Separated
by Leapingspirit
Summary: When Ellis is separated from his group he meets up with an intelligent Hunter and is thrown into a series of events that will change who he is and how he goes through the motions of surviving. EllisxHunter
1. Whispers

Separated

_**I know, I suck. But uh, I DO have one story almost finished that I'll post... eventually. Anyway, I got Left 4 Dead 2 today and its AWESOME. My computer was lagging though 'cause the card wasn't the right kind so I gave up after a while 'cause I couldn't aim right. Any-who, I live off of feedback and don't get near enough of it so if you please, leave a comment/review or something. And each chapter is a song title. The band name will be in italics.**_

Chapter 1- Whispers; _All That Remains_

"Ellis get back here!" Nick yelled as the youngest member of the group wandered off for the millionth time. No one really cared at this point if something looked interesting, or if Ellis thought he saw something potentially dangerous and just _had _to go check it out. They only wanted to get the hell out of zombie hell. But the danger prone hillbilly was determined to check out every inch of all the places they went thoroughly before moving on to the next.

"Aw, c'mon Nick! There might be something useful in there." Ellis whined, motioning to a small dilapidated house.

"I don't care. We only have so many bullets and they're going to run out fast if we don't get out of here." Nick narrowed his eyes at Ellis, who sniffed lightly but rejoined the group. "If you wander off again I'm going to find you a leash." he growled. They walked in relative silence for a while, their supply of bullets slowly dwindling. Swamp muck had seeped through all clothing whether it be from falling it it, having it thrown at you, or from wading through it for hours on end and it was becoming uncomfortable. Surely safety must be close.

"Careful guys, I think I hear a Tank somewhere." Coach whispered. This made them pack together a bit tighter as they sloshed their way through the swamp. The telltale growls and snorts of a Tank weren't that far off and they hoped that they could slink past it without setting it off. But then, when was their luck ever that good?

As they passed a grove of cypress trees, the snorts got louder followed closely by a loud bellow. "Damn it!" Nick cursed as they ran as fast as they could to get to some form of dry ground. The Tank was right on their heels as they scrambled up an embankment, firing clumsily behind them. Most shots missed and the ones that found their mark just made the Tank madder. When they reached the top, they were forced to split up, Rochelle and Ellis diving one way, Nick and Coach the other. The Tank barreled past them with a bellow, the ground beneath them shaking under its weight. It charged toward Rochelle and Ellis. Rochelle managed to strafe to the side before it could punt her across the state but Ellis was trying to reload and didn't realize that the Tank was so close until the back of its hand met with his stomach and he felt nothing as he flew limply through the air. "Ellis!" the remaining three yelled, determined to drop the Tank no more than ever.

Ellis meanwhile had hit the ground hard and had gone rolling back down the embankment, his lower half splashing into the water before he stopped. He was still stunned, all the air knocked out of his body. As he regained his breath, he looked up the steep hill and realized that he couldn't see the others. That probably meant they couldn't see him. He had lost his shotgun and pistols in the fall as well as the pain pills he had picked up. His med-kit was still on his back but most of what was inside was probably smashed up quite a bit. Groaning softly, he looked around, noticing a small shack to his left. Staggering to his feet, he limped toward it, holding his sides. It was empty thankfully. Slumping against the floor with a sigh, he decided to wait until the others came to look for him. If they did. They probably thought the Tank had killed him, or if the Tank hadn't been his end, the fall had.

It hurt to breathe, Ellis was sure that at least two ribs were cracked if not broken, and his shoulder was throbbing. Probably dislocated. And his leg was most likely fractured as well. He waited, and waited. He heard nothing that came close to sounding like Nick, Rochelle, or Coach coming to look for him. Swallowing thickly, he looked around for anything he could use to defend himself if any Infected should come in looking for a snack. He saw an aluminum baseball bat in one corner and had to crawl over to it so he didn't put any unnecessary pressure on his leg. Clutching it tightly, he stayed in that corner, his eyes darting to each window and door as time slowly passed. He was half hidden behind a fallen bookshelf so he had some form of cover. He stiffened as he heard some low growls on the doorstep. The last thing he needed right now was for a Hunter of all Infected to find him. Ellis had no gun so he couldn't shoot it before it saw him. He had no choice but to wait until it attacked him to try and kill it. He ducked down some so he wouldn't be as noticeable and tried to look dead.

The Hunter shoved the ajar door open with one shoulder, a small growl echoing around the empty room. Ellis swallowed, his hands shaking as it crawled on all fours into the room, sniffing and looking around. It reminded him of a cat or dog checking out an unfamiliar place. Keeping his gaze centered on the Hunter as it looked around the darkening room, Ellis took in its appearance. It looked a bit cleaner than the others that had attacked him and his friends along their journey. Its hoodie was a dark brown, its pants were actually black jeans, and it was wearing what looked like hard toe work boots. Ellis couldn't see much of its face, but it looked young, maybe twenty or so. Its claws clicked on the wood floor as it slunk toward the center of the room. Ellis was still behind it, in a corner parallel with the door, but he knew that as soon as it turned around, it would attack.

Some of the remaining light that came in through the window glinted off of something sticking out of the Hunter's hoodie pocket. It was one of his pistols! Ellis would have yelled out in surprise if he hadn't been so shocked and scared. Why had it picked up one of his pistols? As that thought crossed his mind, the Hunter reached into the pocket, pulling the weapon out and laying it on the floor, still not looking at Ellis, and probably not really aware of his presence. It then turned, turning away from him so it still didn't see him, and leaped out of the shack with a loud screech. Ellis waited a long time until he deemed it safe enough to retrieve the weapon. Crawling toward it with the baseball bat still in one hand, he paused as he reached for it. What if it was a trap? No, the Infected weren't _that_ smart. Right? Sucking in a deep, painful breath, he grabbed it and shuffled backwards, back behind the bookshelf. Propping himself against the wall, he watched out a window as it got darker.

The others weren't coming back, not after so much time had passed. Tomorrow, he would have to set out on his own and try to catch up with them. Leaning his head back, Ellis closed his eyes, falling into a light dose as the moon rose. In the morning, Ellis woke up in a lot of pain. His side and shoulder both throbbed, he knew he would have to fix his shoulder soon or have it heal weird, and his leg was numb. Glancing around the room, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the jar of pain pills he had lost and some canned foods laying in the center of the floor. Had the Hunter come again? No, impossible. It would have eaten him if it had seen him sleeping and virtually defenseless. But it had brought him a gun, his mind reasoned. Surely it wasn't that heartless.

Ellis ignored his voice of reason for now, grabbing onto the edge of the bookcase and popping his shoulder back into place, almost biting his tongue off as he stifled a scream. He didn't need a horde on him too. Taking his med-kit off his back, he bound his ribs and splinted his leg quickly before shuffling toward the food and pills. The cans had pop-tops thankfully and he quickly ate a can of ravioli, swallowing a couple pills after. Placing the remaining food and pills in his now empty med-kit bag, he slung it on his back and limped cautiously out of the shack. He found his shotgun, abandoning the baseball bat, but he couldn't find the other pistol. It had probably flown off in some other direction.

The climb up the embankment was long and painful and he swore he felt like he was being watched the whole time. He probably was, but he pushed the thought to the back of this mind. The Tank's corpse was still there and Ellis gave it a kick for good measure before shambling down the road. They had been heading west, so he would keep going that way. Hopefully, he would find this friends soon. He had to stop at noon because his leg was hurting too much and he didn't dare take any more pills or risk overdosing. He ducked into an apartment complex, dragging himself up some stairs to the second, and top, floor. The windows led to a straight drop so there was no way for any Infected to get to him from there. The only way they could attack him was if they came through the door, which he blocked by turning a bed upright and shoving that and a couch against it. It would take a powerful Charger charge to break it down and the hallway was slim. He avoided the windows as much as he could too, in case an opportunistic Smoker or Hunter saw him and decided to get to him through there.

Sitting down and a plush chair that had a bloodstain about where someone's head would be, Ellis stared blankly at the wall for a while, trying to block out the pain from his leg and ribs. At the rate he was going, there was no way he was going to catch up to the others. He was on his own until he could get rescued. The nearest rescue was in Baton Rouge or New Orleans and he was still somewhere in eastern Mississippi. There was no possible way to walk all that and he doubted he could find a working car and a clear road.

He didn't know when he had dosed off, but when he woke up, the sun was going down and a fresh shotgun with ammo was on a coffee table that _had_ been over turned but was no righted. Beside it was an adrenaline shot and a new med-kit. "What in the name of Jimmy Gibbs Jr?" Ellis muttered, looking around. All windows closed securely, the door still barricaded, everything as he had left it except _that_. Maybe it was a ghost or friendly spirit or something, but _someone_ was helping him out. Well his Ma had always told him to count his blessings so he grabbed the shotgun, pocketed the ammo and adrenaline shot and emptied the two cans he still had into the new med-kit. Upon further inspection he noticed that part of a window had been shattered, just a big enough hole for someone's hand to reach in and unlatch the lock on it and slide it open. That made him shiver some as he shoved the couch and bed that made up his barricade aside, swallowing a couple more pain pills, emptying the bottle and throwing it on the ground.

An unusually small amount of Infected were loitering around as he staggered down the highway. Of course, that meant that he was going the right way because the others had probably taken care of most of them. This gave him some hope because it meant that he had less to deal with on his own. Once he heard a Smoker yell out but it was abruptly turned into a terrorized scream then cut off all together. That meant he was being followed by something. That made him tense up more which made his ribs throb.

Ellis found a safe house just as the sun was almost gone. On the wall, a fresh message was written. _Ellis,_ it read, _If you're still alive and have made it this far, I'm sorry. I tried to get them to go look for you but we had to leave quickly, a horde was coming after us. Nick had gotten boomed and we couldn't risk more lives. The Tank hit you hard and we all sort of agreed that if you weren't dead from the impact, you would be soon. Again, I'm sorry if that wasn't the case and pray that you get to safety. Rochelle. _

Tears pricked in the corners of his eyes at the note. They really had thought he was dead. He took small comfort in the fact that they would have looked if they hadn't been under attack by a horde. He understood that they didn't want more than just him to die by coming to look for him but it didn't make him feel any less betrayed that they didn't at least try. That thought kept him up long into the night. At around midnight, maybe a bit later, he heard something scratching at the safe house door. A sleeved arm slid through the bars of the small window, pulling up the metal pipe he had used to keep it closed. It removed it from its place, sliding it to the floor quietly and the door opened. Ellis pretended to be asleep, watching through cracked eyes as the Hunter from the night before slid into the room. Ellis's heart thudded painfully in his chest as it closed the door quietly, replacing the bar and skulking toward him. It bent over him, sniffing down the length of his body, seeming to pause at the splint on his now swollen leg.

Ellis had to keep himself from jumping as it laid a clawed hand on the splint. A growl rumbled in the Hunter's chest and it pulled something from its hoodie pocket, turning to a table that was shoved against the opposite wall. It placed a bottle of pain pills and a box of shotgun shells on the table, turning briefly to look at Ellis again. It stood straighter than other Hunters, though it still stooped some from being used to crawling on hands and feet for so long. It walked back toward Ellis, wrapping one hand around the shotgun. Ellis forced his grip to seem lose from being asleep as the Hunter tugged it gently from his hold. It looked it over, patting it in some places, checking the pump like it actually knew how to work a gun. It seemed to be satisfied with its condition and placed it back in Ellis's hands exactly how he had been holding it before.

He expected it to leave then but it sat down near the back, unbarricaded door instead. It kept its head turned toward the bars like it was actually watching for something. Ellis, for the life of him, couldn't manage to relax enough to doze off for a long time. The thought that he was trapped in a room with a Hunter was enough to keep him wide awake, though he pretended to sleep. It was obviously smarter than the other Infected, that, or it wasn't hungry and thinking 'shred first ask questions later.' Given Infecteds could think past 'eat, sleep, sex.' Which this one obviously could. It sat there for an hour, every now and then looking over its shoulder to look at Ellis. Eventually though it must have gotten bored because it stood with a soft growl, removed the pipe again, slipping outside and replacing the pipe, making it seem like it had never been there.

Even then Ellis still didn't really relax now that he knew that the Hunter could get in and out of a safe house without any problems. Slowly though he slipped into an uneasy sleep. When he cracked his eyes open, the room was just like how it had been last night. His leg throbbed, making him groan in agony. He had done too much walking the day before and was paying for it now. He still had two cans of food left so he would be able to rest here for the next day if he had do.

Standing carefully, Ellis barely managed to stagger to the table opposite him to grab the shotgun shells the Hunter had brought him for whatever strange reason it had. His splinted leg gave out and Ellis hardly had time to grab the table before he hit the ground hard. "Ah shit. Looks like I'm not goin anywhere today." he said to himself. Using his shotgun as a crutch, he hobbled back to the beat up mattress that he had slept on and sat down heavily. Though the time he now had he could spend wondering why the Hunter was helping him.

Maybe it was trying to lull him into a false sense of security and then once it had gained his trust or gotten him relaxed enough would make its move. No, that seemed too complicated for a simple kill. Especially since he was alone now. Ellis came up with several more reasons and the only one he could really say was plausible was that the Hunter had been abandoned by its friends too, maybe when it got infected. Maybe it felt a small amount of empathy for him, at least enough to give him enough supplies to keep him going. That also made him feel a small bit better. He liked to look on the bright side of things whenever possible and lately there hadn't been that many bright sides so he was thankful for this small glimmer of something akin to hope.

The whole day he kept his leg propped up as much as he could, keeping an eye on the door while finding ways to amuse himself so he didn't die of boredom. Now and then he would actually stagger to his feet and look out the barred window to see if maybe he could catch a glimpse of the Hunter. He didn't expect much. The bright sun hurt his eyes so he could only imagine how it felt for a night predator like that. Once he thought he saw it perched on the roof of a building across from the safe house but when he blinked it was gone so it must have just been a trick of the light. Of course, Ellis realized that because he had been forced to rest because of his leg for the day, there was no possible way for him to catch up to the others, no matter how fast he managed to wade through the sea of Infected.

As the sun was going down, Ellis noticed movement by the safe house door and snapped his head toward it. Nothing. Standing up shakily, he moved a bit closer to the door, peering to one side then the next without getting to close. Still nothing. Then he heard a low growl and the Hunter stood from its crouched position, its back facing the door. Another growl echoed it Ellis could just see another Hunter, this one in a black hoodie, stalking toward the door. The brown hoodie'd Hunter screeched at the other one, but it didn't stop. The black hoodie'd one screeched back, a bit lower but the brown one didn't flinch at all. It crouched down, snarling ferociously, waiting for something to happen. The black one leaped with a yell, slamming the brown one against the door, making the metal shake some on its hinges. The brown one cried out, slicing upward with its claws, ripping open the hoodie of its opponent.

The black hoodie jumped back, a bit of blood splashing onto the concrete. The brown one leaped with a shriek, locking its hands around the arms of the other, biting down on its shoulder. The other one howled, thrashing madly. It scored its claws across the brown hoodie'd Hunter's face, as it forced it back, swiping its other hand across its stomach. The brown Hunter yowled angrily, leaping again as he forced the black hoodie to the ground. It straddled the other, tearing and shredding the other Hunter's front in an all too familiar fashion for Ellis's tastes. The black hoodie wouldn't be outdone though, it clawed and swiped at the brown Hunter until the other got tired of its persistence and tore its throat out, blood pooling beneath them on the concrete. The remaining Hunter practically fell off of the one that was now dead, an agonized snarl coming from it as it tried to crawl away.

It made it about five feet before it collapsed, blood pouring from its stomach and chest. Ellis gulped, not sure if he should help it or not. After all, it had been helping him and there was a debt to repay. Slowly taking the pipe from its place, Ellis opened the door cautiously, creeping out. His leg was throbbing still but it was better than this morning, the day of rest had done him good. He wrapped his free hand, the other holding his shotgun, around one of the Hunter's wrists, he slowly dragged it into the safe house. Once the door was closed securely, he looked down at the Hunter uncertainly, suddenly not sure what to do. It was still breathing, but he didn't know how long that would last with how much it was bleeding from its wounds. Hauling it painfully onto the mattress, Ellis grabbed his fresh med-kit and took out a roll of gauze and some hydrogen peroxide. He had no choice but to remove what was left of the Hunter's hoodie to be able to clean its wounds quickly.

Tearing the front of the hoodie open a bit more, Ellis ran a scrap of cloth he had found over the slashes that now crisscrossed the Hunter's front to remove as much blood as he could. He then poured some of the peroxide on them, watching it bubble before pulling the Hunter up some, leaning its limp form against his shoulder as he wrapped the gauze around its chest and stomach, taping it down. The whole time the Hunter didn't stir which sort of worried Ellis but relieved him at the same time. What if when it woke up it attacked him before it could realize that he was the one it had been 'protecting' while he's been separated from the others? He was sure he didn't have the reflexes to club it away before it pounced him, and didn't have the strength to shove it off, and that was before he was injured.

Now that he was close to it, he could see its face clearly. It was young looking, maybe a year or two younger than Ellis with a clean shaven face. Its hair was a deep, rich brown, even matted down by sweat and blood as it was.

Sitting down on the floor beside the unbarricaded door, Ellis watched the Hunter warily, watching the quiet rise and fall of its chest. It was late when it finally showed some sign of life, twitching a claw and letting out a pained growl. Slowly, it sat up, one hand on its forehead like it had a headache. Its eyes remained closed though, with its hoodie removed, Ellis could see it's expression clearly as it tried to get a feed on its surroundings. At first it was confused, then pain swept over its face as it sat up a bit straighter. One hand flew to its stomach and a grimace distorted its face, eyes cracking open some. It had blood red eyes that made Ellis shiver some. The Hunter looked down at its chest and stomach in wonder, then seemed to realize that its hoodie was gone. It let out a loud screech of surprise, looking around with furious red eyes that glowed brightly in the dim room.

Its gaze landed on Ellis, which made him tense up, tightening his grip around his shotgun. A low growl reverberated through the room as the Hunter glared at him then died as it seemed to realize that Ellis had helped it. The Hunter looked back down at the bandages then back to Ellis, its head turned at a slight angle. Ellis considered explaining, but he didn't want to seem patronizing or say something that would get him shredded. So he just offered the Hunter a tentative smile which seemed to catch it a bit off guard because its mouth seemed to slacken some, falling open a fraction in a comical way. Ellis forced himself not to chuckle for the same reason that he hadn't spoken yet.

The Hunter let out a thoughtful growl, pulling itself off the mattress, six inches onto the floor, shifting into a crouch. Ellis gulped, his hands tightening a bit more around his gun as it crept forward. It only stopped when it was six inches from his face. It sniffed at him, pushing his shotgun to one side with a clawed hand. It laid its other hand on Ellis's bent knee, the other being splinted still and stretched out in front of him. It sniffed the length of his body and back up, the whole time Ellis sat rigidly against the wall. Without even thinking about it, Ellis spoke. "Why are you helping me?" he whispered, his voice thick.

The Hunter drew back some, sitting on its haunches in a crouched position, its elbows resting on its knees. It regarded him carefully, then looked around the room, studying the walls and the ceiling. As it passed its eyes over the wall above the mattress, it stopped, seeming to scan the message Rochelle had written there. It snarled at it, standing up and stalking over to it. Ellis jumped when it yelled in a scratchy voice and scored its long deadly claws across it, obvious fury printed across its expression. "You were abandoned too?" Ellis asked, now wanting to confirm one of his theories. The Hunter growled, dropping back into a crouching position and crawled back over to Ellis, sitting Indian style on the floor before him. "I'm sorry. I guess we're prisoners in sufferin huh?" but at least I'm still human, he added privately. The Hunter let out a disapproving noise, looking to one side, its red eyes thoughtful.

It turned its gaze outside at the dark sky, regarding it for a second before standing up, still straighter than other Hunters even with its wounds. It snatched the shotgun from Ellis's grip, and grabbed his wrist, hauling him up. Before Ellis could make any sounds of protest, he was slung onto the Hunter's back and they were out the door. The Hunter galloped on all fours down the road with Ellis on its back, not even seeming to notice his added weight. It had handed him back his shotgun as he had tossed the stunned man onto its back. Ellis realized after he regained some form of equilibrium that it was like riding a small horse. The Hunter was actually taller than him by a couple inches so it was easier on it though Ellis kept his legs firmly hooked around its middle so he didn't drag on the concrete. After a while he was actually able to sit up and snipe with the shotgun while they ran down the almost deserted highway. Ellis shot any Infected that got too close while the Hunter ran and jumped.

At one point, after running for at least an hour without tiring, it leaped on top of a car, almost smashing the hood in completely, then onto a bus, then off that onto a rig. Ellis barely noticed the jarring landings, too caught in the moment. It felt like flying, and the fact that it was dark helped it. The Hunter suddenly let out a loud, high screech as it pushed off of the rig, having run the length of it. Ellis turned on his flashlight, which was duct taped to his shotgun now, and pointed it the direction the Hunter pointed as it landed on another rig. Another safe house was down the embankment but a Witch was sitting in front of the doorway. "What should we do?" Ellis asked, though he knew he wouldn't get an answer. The Hunter growled, crouching as if to pounce but it didn't move. "Can you keep going to the next one?"

It looked at him over its shoulder, exposed red eyes glowing in the dark. It rocked back and forth, shifting its weight on is feet for a second before snorting and turning its eye forward again. "If not we can take care of the Wit- woah!" he was cut off as the Hunter leaped off the rig, landed in front of the Witch momentarily, startling her out of her skin, and then leaped away, landing in the bough of a tree. It let out a raspy chuckle as the Witch screamed and flailed below the tree before taking off again, galloping down the highway again. _The damn thing never runs out of energy. I know I ain't exactly a feather but damn... didn't know I was that light._ Ellis mused. _Zombie apocalypse must 'ave trimmed me down more than I intended. _He took aim at a common that was chasing them, intent on taking a chunk out of at least one of them, taking its head clean off with one shell. At the rate they were traveling, maybe there was hope of catching up to the others after all. They were still going west so there was every chance they would find them.

"Hey Hunter dude. Do you have a name by any chance?" the Hunter paused on top of a mini van, its chest heaving some. It sat down abruptly, making Ellis tumble off its back with a yell of protest. "Hey! That was uncalled for." it was grinning though, its shoulders shaking with suppressed chuckles. It grew quiet suddenly, scraping its claws against the top of the van in thought. Then it backed up suddenly, nodding toward where it had been scratching. Ellis shined his flashlight at it, realizing that it had been trying to write something. It had obviously been doing more than jumping around like a lunatic and eating people while it had been infected. Its obvious fury when it had 'read' the message from his friends told him that much. Maybe it had been reteaching itself some things. Suddenly the Hunter seemed a bit more human.

Looking down at the scratches, he saw that it was a barely legible word. "Alec?" he read out loud, more of a question of confirmation since it was hard to read in the dark and the fact that the 'writing' was bad all in all. The Hunter nodded, obviously disinclined to embarrass itself- himself- by trying to say it out loud and only managing to growl and screech something unintelligible. Ellis looked Alec up and down in the dark again. Without his hoodie, he looked human except for the claws and red eyes. He was free of the boils and tumors that covered the skin of most other Infected and seemed obviously more intelligent than the others. "It fits ya." this seemed to please him because a tentative grin pulled at the corners of his bloodstained mouth, the four slashes that now marred his face twisting cruelly. "Wanna keep goin?"

Alec grunted, pulling himself into a crouch some, though Ellis noticed that his legs shook some. He simply figured that he was tired from traveling so long, then he remembered that his entire front was slashed up and that he had lost a lot of blood in his fight with the other Hunter. A few hours of sleep wouldn't help anyone recover from something like that. But Alec seemed determined to continue so Ellis hesitantly climbed onto his back, hooking his legs around his middle again; for the first time thinking it was awkward now that he actually thought of the Hunter as a person. He couldn't really give it much thought before Alec launched them through the air again, bouncing off cars and concrete like a rabbit on crack, not seeming to notice that added weight again. Though Ellis noticed after another thirty or so minutes that his landings seemed to be getting increasingly harder. Another thirty minutes later, Alec actually stumbled but didn't fall, catching himself and launching them forward to regain his balance.

He only stopped when another safe house came into sight, the red door slightly ajar and the room dark. Alec landed hard outside it, grunting softly and Ellis hastily climbed off his back. They must have covered two days worth of walking and shooting in three or four hours without any more injury to themselves. The Hunter was obviously tired now, his chest heaving in ragged gasps for air as they shoved tables and cabinets against the door. Ellis didn't really feel fearful of him now that he had a name to go with his face and claws. He really had no reason to be afraid when Alec had helped him from the beginning and was obviously smarter than other Infected. And they had both been abandoned by their friends.

Ellis sat down in a flimsy garden chair, pulling his injured leg up onto a table in front of him. "So uh, are all Infected as smart as you or are their kill drives so strong that the kill first ask later?" Alec gave him a weird look as he crouched against the wall, still regaining his breath some. He held up one clawed finger, telling Ellis that, yes, all Infected were smart, to some degree at least. That made him scared. "Then, if they are smart, then why don't they open doors normally?" Alec chuckled in a raspy voice and shrugged. Ellis looked at the bandages on his chest, noticing some blood in some places. The wounds must have been reopened from all the jumping and leaping. Glancing around, he saw a new med-kit on a shelf. Heaving himself to his feet, he limped over to the shelf, grabbed the med-kit and sat down in front of Alec, who looked like he was about to doze off. "Lean forward would ya?"

Alec raised and eyebrow, an odd mannerism for an Infected that pulled part of one of the slashes on his face up some. But he sat forward some. Ellis pulled the tape on Alec's shoulder off, unwrapping the gauze slowly. As the layers were peeled away, more and more blood was revealed. Once it was all removed, Ellis winced at the gashes and claw marks. A couple of them were festering, an obvious infection starting as puss oozed out of them. He ripped up an old sheet and rubbed it around in a clean-ish puddle near by, carefully cleaning the wounds. The whole time, Alec sat in silence, a carefully neutral expression on his face. His hands hand been placed on Ellis's shoulders so that he could unwrap the gauze easier but he had yet to remove them which Ellis took note of with a slight blush. Alec only showed that he was any form of pain when Ellis dabbed some rubbing alcohol on the wounds, no peroxide in the med-kit this time. He hissed, a low growl vibrating under Ellis's fingers as he carefully rubbed the more infected wounds, muttering apologies whenever the growls got louder.

When he was finally done and was wrapping the gauze around Alec's stomach and chest, he became increasingly conscience of their close proximity, especially when he had to lean in some to wrap it around his back. He backed up quickly when he finally was done and had taped the gauze down. Alec's clawed hands stayed in the air for a couple heartbeats but he eventually folded them in his lap. "We need to find ya some new clothes." Ellis commented. "I think we're gettin close to a mall or somethin. We could try our luck in there. And we're walkin tomorrow." Alec grumbled at that, leaning against the wall, and closing his eyes. He obviously didn't like the idea of walking around in broad daylight without some form of eye protection. If he had to, Ellis would give up his hat to him. Being alone and still injured, he couldn't afford to leave the Hunter here and go on by himself. If he got jumped by a special Infected or got attacked by a horde, then he would be royally screwed.

He fell asleep in the garden chair, waking up to the sound of low growling. Immediately, he fumbled for his gun but two clawed hands pinned his arms to the arms of the chair. Snapping his eyes open, he saw Alec leaning over him, glaring over his shoulder at the other door. The room was lighter than the night before so it must have been light out. There was obviously something outside that the Hunter didn't like and he was determined to keep Ellis quiet so as not to alert it because when he tried to ask what was wrong, one of the Hunter's hand's released his wrist and clamped over his mouth, successfully cutting off whatever he was wanting to say. Listening, Ellis groaned around Alec's hand when he heard the sobs of a Witch. With his now free hand, he pried Alec's hand off his face and whispered; "She's right outside huh?" a sharp nod was the only answer he needed. "We can go out the other door."

Quickly and quietly, they unbarricaded the other door and slipped out. Immediately, Alec hissed at the bright light, shrinking away from it and squinting his eye closed. Ellis sighed, taking his hat off, looking at it morosely and placing it on the Hunter's head. Alec jumped, looking up at him from his crouched position from under the brim of the hat. "Only 'till we find you a new hoodie." Ellis mumbled, the sun now to bright for _his _eyes. Shouldering the AK-47 he had grabbed in the safe house, they slowly made their way toward the nearest town, giving the Witch a wide berth until her sobs faded into the background. Some freshly shot up corpses littered the street which made Ellis swell with hope. They were getting closer. If he hadn't begun to think it awkward, he would have let Alec carry him like he had last night and maybe catch up to them faster but he wanted to spare himself some embarrassment though the Hunter obviously didn't care either way. Unfortunately, when they did find a clothing store, the only thing left were some t-shirts and a hood-less leather jacket. Alec immediately grabbed the new jacket, obviously feeling naked without something covering his arms. He searched through the t-shirts, holding a couple up to compare their size to his body size before slipping on a monochrome graffiti tee that hugged his body in ways that made Ellis quickly busy himself with checking how much ammo he had left. Walking meant shooting and he didn't want to run out of ammo.

Alec guarded Ellis's hat viciously, never letting it leave his head which made the human thankful that he didn't have to worry about the Hunter losing it while they fended off a horde. They snaked their way through a carnival, Ellis trembling with the pent up urge to go on every ride the passed and raid the food stands- which he did at one point because he had run out of the food Alec had brought him and was starving. He found some more canned goods that hadn't been smashed up beyond recognition, stabbing a can of soup open with a pocket knife he found on a corpse. He finally got to release the urge to act like a child when they got to an enormous slide that they had to climb the back of to get around it. He promptly slid down it, dragging Alec along for the ride when he seemed hesitant to go down the easy way. The Hunter screeched in surprise as Ellis grabbed his wrist and walked off the edge of the slide, somehow remaining on their feet as they slid down the hills of the contraption. Ellis was shaking with excitement after that while Alec was shaking with fear, glaring at the other as he shook. His expression clearly read 'never do that again' which made Ellis laugh. He was promptly tripped into a particularity deep puddle when they were trekking through the Tunnel of Love. Who would have thought a zombie could have a sense of humor. Then again, he wasn't very zombie-ish now was he.

The sound of helicopter blades in the stadium made them pause. Exchanging a look, they both ran toward it, entering the huge area just as the vehicle took off. Inside were Nick, Coach, and Rochelle. They had caught up alright, and Ellis had just missed his chance at rescue. The others saw him, and Alec, because while Rochelle tried to get the pilot to turn around, Nick and Coach shot at Alec who quickly hid under a bleacher. Without his hoodie they shouldn't have been able to tell he was Infected until they got close enough to see the claws and red eyes but then Ellis remembered that Alec had crouched down as they entered the stadium because of the loud noise of the helicopter. The helicopter didn't turn around, even when it was clear of the stadium and had enough room to be able to. Ellis mouth fell open in a silent plea as Rochelle joined the two men, who were looking like they were trying not to shoot the pilot, in watching Ellis become a dot on the ground. Ellis found his voice, screaming as loud as he could as the helicopter grew smaller and smaller.

Alec crawled out from under the bleachers, standing as straight as he could, taller than Ellis by couple inches. He nudged him lightly once he quieted down, tilting his head to the side some in a silent question. "My friends... they left me... again." Ellis gasped, trying to suppress sobs. Tears rolled down his cheeks, his head slowly sank down. He didn't look up even when Alec slowly slid one arm around his shoulders, holding him up as his bad leg gave out. He collapsed against the Hunter's chest, sobbing painfully, his ribs reminding him of their condition. "Why am I always... the only one... left?" he sobbed. He didn't notice that Alec had sat both of them down in the seats of the stadium. A comforting purr reassured him some and slowly his anger and sadness faded away, leaving him leaning against the Hunter's chest, tears still running. Sucking in a deep breath, he tried to pull away but Alec's hand tightened on his shoulder slightly. Then he noticed that his purr had turned into a growl, that turning into a snarl. "What is it now Alec?"

The Hunter released him, pushing him back, slowly onto the ground. He motioned under the bleachers and Ellis understood, hide until he could dispose of the threat since he was out of all but one clip of ammo. Scurrying under the bleachers Ellis watched Alec slowly stalk away, growling and sniffing the air. A cough split the air and Alec screeched in the direction of it as a tongue suddenly snaked around Ellis's middle, yanking him back. He banged his head on the bottom of the seat he had been under, stunning him. Alec pounced on Ellis, slicing the tongue, crouching over him with lips pulled back in a snarl. The slashes on his face had begun to heal into nasty red scars that made him look truly frightening when he was mad. Any time really. The Smoker yelled back a challenge, which made Alec screech again, hurting Ellis's ears because of their close proximity. The Smoker couldn't attack again until its tongue grew back but Alec seemed unwilling to leave Ellis undefended now that he was without a gun.

Craning his neck, he saw the Smoker at the top of the stands, ironically next to a 'no smoking' sign. If he had a clear view of it, the Smoker had a clear view of Ellis and Alec and the Hunter obviously knew it because his growl became almost possessive sounding. One clawed hand laid itself on Ellis's chest and at the same time Alec screeched. The Smoker flinched back, taking a step backwards. Then it turned and fled, its cloud of noxious gas and coughs trailing behind it. "Ok man, you can get off me now." Ellis groaned, his head throbbing. Alec looked down at him, still not moving to get off him. His red eyes glowed eerily in the growing darkness, making Ellis shiver some at their intensity. He jumped almost violently when a clawed hand tentatively brushed his cheek. He was about to ask the Hunter what he was doing but the hand vanished, quickly replaced by Alec's cheek. The Hunter leaned against the side of his face, his other hand still on Ellis's chest. He breathed in deeply, taking in the other's scent before drawing back, taking Ellis's hand and pulling him to his feet at the same time.

Ellis quickly brushed the Hunter's weird behavior aside, concentrating instead on how he would get rescue. He felt bad that he would have to most likely leave Alec behind because he was Infected but knew that this was his world now and that he would make it better than any uninfected person would. Ellis's multitude of injuries proved that. Retrieving his gun, Ellis limped bravely out of the stadium, now determined to find a working car and head to New Orleans which was where the helicopter was most likely taking the others. No car would be able to outpace a helicopter but they would be able to keep some form of trail on them. Alec stayed close to him, noticing that his bad leg was bothering him again, ready to grab him if it gave out. While they made their way out to the parking lot, Ellis swallowed a couple pain pills which helped him walk straighter as his leg numbed. After much hunting and setting off alarms, and dealing with the annoying hordes that came whenever an alarm was triggered, Ellis managed to hot wire a car that had a mostly full tank of gas and no alarm that would go off when he smashed in the window. He got in quickly, watching as Alec hesitantly crawled into the shotgun seat, obviously not comfortable being in a metal death trap with someone like Ellis at the wheel.

They peeled out of the parking lot, following the highway through the dirt on either side west, avoiding trees and over turned cars with only inches to spare. Ellis absorbed himself in mowing down any Infected that got in his way as he sped through the country side. The car ran out of gas when it started to rain and they were stuck on the side of the highway with no shelter and no houses in sight. And it was dark, very dark. That made Ellis nervous but Alec was too busy almost literally kissing the ground once he had tumbled out of the car. "The nearest town is three miles down the road and this rain ain't getting any lighter. Let's cover as much ground as we can." Alec looked at him and offered him a slight nod before turning his glowing red eyes briefly to the clouds above. "If it gets too hard then we'll take shelter in a car or something. And give me back my hat." he tried to snatch it off the Hunter's head but that just started a game of keep away. Ellis chased Alec through the cars and scrub, yelling at him to give him his hat before he shot his ass but the Hunter obviously saw through his bluff because he kept running, the hat clamped in his sharp teeth securely. Eventually he scurried up a tree, crouching on a branch that shouldn't have held his weight but did valiantly.

Ellis leaned against the trunk panting and holding his leg above the ground. In the chase it had acted up and started throbbing some. "Damn you." he panted though he noticed that his mood was considerably lightened as compared to what it had been during the drive. He glared up at the Hunter through the rain, still leaning against the tree. "You have to come down eventually." he grunted, poking at his bad leg to figure out if it was just a muscle or the bone again. As if his words had done it, suddenly Alec's feet slipped on the branch and he crashed to the ground, landing in a particularity prickly bush. Luckily he landed on his back so he didn't slice up his front again. Ellis laugh and while the Hunter was stunned, snatched his hat back, slamming it down on his head with a note of finality. "You can have it back tomorrow if we can't find you a hoodie." Alec just let out a mix between a growl and a groan, remaining in the prickly bush until he regained his breath. Ellis just laughed.

_**Yeah the settings are kinda spotty but I'm concentrating more on the characters and how Alec helps Ellis and Ellis helps Alec and blah blah. And I chose the name Alec for the Hunter because it means 'defender of mankind' in some form of Irish. Fitting no? Let me know what you think please. I don't mean to sound like a brat but I never get reviews and would like them very much.**_


	2. Mercy

Separated

Chapter 2- Mercy; _One Republic_

Ellis and Alec wound up sitting out the storm inside an open rig. While the rain made the air sticky, it dropped the temperature some and made traveling more bearable. They sat in the back of the rig, as far away from the opening as possible so no curious Infected could get to them, moreover Ellis, if they simply looked inside. The sun was up again when the clouds rolled away and Ellis was forced to fork over his hat or have it stolen. Alec seemed a bit hesitant to go through the next town making Ellis think that his courage had been used up in the carnival. As soon as they crossed the borders of the town tough, he figured out why. Witches, a dozen if not more were milling around. And the storm was hanging over this place now instead of the highway where they had sheltered. "Ah Christ in a hand-basket." Ellis practically snarled, echoed by a growl from Alec.

_"Alright y'all, Ima anchor just off shore here. Signal me when you get the diesel." _a boxy voice said over what seemed to be a speaker near by. The pair followed the sound, seeing a boat pulling away from a rickety dock. And on the dock were Nick, Rochelle, and Coach. Ellis was about to yell out to get their attention when Alec clamped a hand over his mouth and yanked him back.

"What are ya doin?" Ellis demanded around the Hunter's hand, glaring at him. Alec stared back at him, not phased. He took Ellis's hat off his head, placing it back on the hillbilly's head and suddenly wrapped his arms around him. Ellis stiffened up for a second then returned the hug, noticing that Alec was shaking some. "Aw I'm sorry Alec. I don't want to leave ya, but I don't think the others'll understand if I came up ta them with a Hunter." Alec answered by burying his face in the crook of Ellis's neck, obviously disinclined to let go but knowing that he had to. He knew Ellis would be better off with three humans instead of one Hunter. Alec released him, giving him a gentle nudge toward his friends. "Alright. Stay close man, I don't wanna say goodbye for good yet." Alec nodded, nodding toward the humans that were now making their way into the Witch infested town.

Ellis staggered to his feet, his leg bothering him again and it probably would for a long time, and limped toward them, yelling out to get their attention. "Ellis!" they all cried at the same time. Rochelle enveloped him in a sisterly hug while Coach clapped him on the back and Nick offered him a tentative smile. "How the hell did you catch up to us so fast?" Coach inquired.

"I uh, hot wired a couple cars and blazed my way down the highway." he replied, trying to formulate a half lie before he blabbed that a Hunter had carried him on his back in order to get him closer to them. "So what are we doin here?" he asked, rubbing his hands together. Coach handed him a shotgun since his AK-47 had been damaged a bit too much by the crummy weather. They explained that they had to go three miles down the road and get some diesel from a station behind a sugar plant. While avoiding the Witches. It didn't sound too hard but Ellis learned real fast that it was almost impossible to not startle one Witch or the other. After limping bravely through town, they went down an elevator at the sugar plant which was more infested with Witches than the town, and through a cane field. Ellis literally tripped over one that he didn't see in time and was almost shredded by her but she was suddenly gone. He caught a glimpse of a black jacket shoving against the Witch, forcing her back through the cane before a screech sounded and blood sprayed across the leaves. Alec was defiantly close, and certainly didn't like the thought of Ellis getting hurt. Nick hauled him to his feet, giving him a thorough once over with a single sweep of his green eyes, deeming him alright to carry on. Of course, not even a team of horses could stop Ellis once he made a decision.

They rested for a couple hours in a safe house that had four canisters of diesel in it. Ellis peered out the barred windows and smiled when he saw Alec crouched on a conveyer, dripping wet but alert. When Nick asked what he was smiling at he said, a bit too quickly nothing. Nick didn't believe him and took it upon himself to look for himself to see what seemed to hold Ellis's attention for more than five seconds. But Alec was already gone. A screech and a startled howl from a Witch made them all jump and suddenly a Witch flew by limply, followed closely by a vicious blur of black. "What the hell was that?" Nick almost yelped. He opened the door, swinging it out to keep it between him and whatever just flew by. "A Hunter's shredding a Witch!" he called back in. "O-Or at least, I think its a Hunter. It doesn't have a hood. Yikes!" he jumped back as Alec's body suddenly connected with the door, almost smashing it into Nick's face. He had probably startled another Witch while attacking the one and that one had gone after him, throwing him off her 'sister.'

Alec let out a terrified screech, scrambling to his feet and pouncing back up to the conveyer while Nick slammed the safe house door closed again. The Witch howled and flailed below the conveyer, obviously unaware that she could just climb up and attack the Hunter again. Ellis peered around Nick's head and saw that Alec was holding his shoulder, blood dripping between his fingers. One of the Witch's claws must have met its mark. Alec growled down at the female Infected, obvious loathing in his red eyes. He glanced around, noticing a bottle laying on the ground near by, a Molotov that the others had missed. He slowly backed out of sight of the Witch, creeping up to the bottle and picking hit up. The fuse was wet from the rain so he had no hope of lighting it even if he carried matches on him which he didn't. Ellis could see the gears in the Hunter's head turning as he looked the bottle over working his jaw like a cow chewing cud. Alec smashed the bottle down on the metal, coming away with the neck and half the body still in his hand. He crawled back to where the Witch was now kneeling and sobbing, having calmed down.

"What the hell is that thing doing?" Nick whispered, just as confused as the rest of them. Alec hung by one hand off the side of the conveyer, looking the Witch over carefully. He must have realized that he couldn't reach her just by hanging upright so he swung his legs up, hooked his knees on the edge and lowered his body down until he was hanging upside down, the back of the Witch's neck just in reach of the sharp ends of the bottle. With a quick swipe, he severed her spinal chord and she fell over dead. The Hunter threw the bottle, now useless to him, to one side and swung himself up using purely stomach muscles. Nick took the opportunity to try and snipe him but Alec glared at him briefly and leaped away just as Nick pulled the trigger. The bullet sailed through the air and connected with the shoulder of another Witch, efficiently startling it and making it attack the door. "Goddamn it! Are these stupid zombies getting smarter?" he yelled as he shot at the Witch, which had one arm stuck through the bars of the door was was flailing around trying to claw at him.

"Naw, I think they're all smart in their own way. At least enough ta be able to know when they're in danger." Ellis replied, wanting to defend Alec, who he thought of as a friend and guardian at the same time.

"Yeah and run away like pussies!" Nick snarled, still shooting at the persistent Witch. _He really shouldn't have said that..._ Ellis mused. Suddenly the Witch was ripped from the bars of the door and Alec's arm was through it, yanking the pipe away and shoving it open with brute force. He jumped on Nick for a single heartbeat, just enough time to steal his assault rifle and pistol as well as his med-kit and be back out the door before anyone had enough time to shoot at him. "What the hell was that?" Nick yelped, scrambling to his feet. He looked around for his gun and supplies. "That little bastard stole my stuff!" they all turned toward the door when they heard raspy laughter, unrestrained, coming from what sounded like the roof of the mill.

"How'd it know how to open the door?" Rochelle wondered, shaking lightly from the sudden scare.

"Like I just said, they're all smart in their own way." Ellis repeated with a shrug.

"You seem awful unfazed by all this boy. Something you want to tell us?" Coach said, looking the hillbilly over carefully.

"Hey, I've been wanderin in zombie-ized hell for two or three days _by myself. _I've picked up a few things." he shot the other three in the room a pointed look and they suddenly found the floor very interesting. Ellis sighed, knowing that he wouldn't ever get much of an apology when they had only really left him behind because they figured he was dead. "Let's just get to gettin. This storm ain't lettin up any time soon." the others all exchanged a look an nodded in silent agreement. Slinging the diesel on their backs, they cautiously made their way out of the safe house though it seemed all but one or two Witches in the immediate area had all been taken care of already.

While they were walking back through the cane field, someone tripped over another Witch. This time it was Coach and while she was in the process of shredding him, a loud, very close screech split the air and the Witch ran away. As Coach was staggering to his feet he saw a black form leap up out of the cane and land on something not too far away. A startled yell and then silence was what followed. The four shivered at it, even Ellis. They found Nick's things hanging from a rope in the entrance to the mill as they made their way out which raised a few eyebrows. As soon as he grabbed the assault rifle, a bottle of Boomer bile was emptied on him from somewhere above him. _Never insult a Hunter..._ Ellis thought with a half hidden smirk as Nick ran frantically from a horde, climbing on top of a trailer type thing and shooting down at the Infected that were trying to take a chunk out of his ankles.

"What... in the hell... was that?" he panted as he climbed down.

"I don't think that Hunter likes you." Rochelle commented, motioning to the Ducatel Diesel sign where you could just see a dark form perched on top of the 't' in Ducatel.

"What? That's insane. Hunters don't know enough to hate someone, let alone set a trap like that- oof!" he was suddenly on the ground and his white jacket was gone. He scrambled to his feet cursing in colorful spurts, spinning on his heels to look for the Hunter who had just stolen part of his several thousand dollar suit. On the roof of a house on the other side of the mill they saw Alec standing there waving the jacket like a flag. "Give that back you freakin mongrel!" he shouted, glaring at Alec through the rain. The Hunter only gave him a malicious smile, jumping off the roof on onto another, holding the jacket over one shoulder casually.

Nick was about to shoot at him but Ellis grabbed his gun. "Wait a second Nick. Let's try askin nicely."

"What? I think that Tank broke more than just your leg Ellis. That's nuts." he was about to raise his gun again but Ellis yanked it out of his grip, giving him a pointed look. "Alright. You get my jacket back from your Hunter buddy while we get out of the rain like sane people." Nick led the others over to a carport several meters away once he had snatched his gun back. Ellis smirked at him and turned to look at Alec who was suddenly closer, having jumped onto a u-haul type truck near by.

"Alright man, give it over." Ellis held out his hand to catch the jacket. Alec tilted his head lightly, leaping down from the truck and glaring over at the other three. Now that he was closer, Ellis could see that a single slash on his shoulder had ripped open his jacket and shirt underneath, staining it with blood. The gash underneath had already scabbed over neatly and was healing, similar to how the slashes on his face had healed into scars in just two days. "They won't hurt ya. Just give me the jacket." Alec looked at the jacket then back to Ellis before shrugging and tossing it cleanly to him. Ellis grabbed it just before it hit the ground. Alec was already gone by the time he looked back up. "What'd I tell ya?" he snickered as Nick's jaw went slack.

"How... did you do that?" he demanded as he grabbed his jacked from Ellis's outstretched hand.

"I asked nicely." Ellis replied, articulating each word like he was talking to a mentally challenged child. Nick glared at him, pulling the jacket on while muttering under his breath. When they got back to the dock after signaling Virgil and fighting off a couple hordes, they never noticed the black clothed shape with a mop of wet brown hair clinging to the front of the boat as it pulled away. Alec wasn't going to let go of Ellis that easily. They slowly chugged out of the storm front as the night went on and Ellis was the only one left awake out of the ones on the deck. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Alec's head suddenly popped up beside him from the outside edge of the boat. "What the-mph!" Alec clamped a hand over his mouth, hooking his elbows on the side of the boat to keep from falling back into the water, motioning for Ellis to be quiet. He nodded, moving over so the Hunter could climb on the deck which he did, rolling his wrists and shoulders. "What are you doing here?" Ellis whispered, conscious of Virgil in the cabin. Alec shot him a look that said clearly 'what do you think nimrod?' Ellis glared at his condescending look but gave him a half smile. "Well at least ya didn't get left behind again. Have you been clinging to the side of the boat all night?" Alec nodded. "Ouch." he nodded again. "Look man, it'll be hard for you to keep up with us when we get to Orleans. Maybe I should talk to them in the morning about all this and see if you can just travel with us."

Alec shook his head, peering past Ellis to Nick, Coach and Rochelle who were all sleeping soundly. He tilted his head slightly to one side, his expression becoming slightly sad. He nodded toward them, looking pointedly at Ellis then shook his head. 'You have them, I'm fine on my own.' was what Ellis guessed he was trying to say. "Naw Alec. You don't need to be alone through all this." the Hunter seemed caught off guard by that statement, not used to receiving comfort from others. "I trust you. Stay here until morning and I'll show them that they can trust you too." Alec shook his head forcefully, glaring at the sleeping three. 'They left you. _They _can't be trusted.'

"They only left me behind 'cause they thought I was dead." a low growl came from Alec when Ellis said the word 'dead' which surprised him some. "And I trust 'em as much as I do you. They're all I have to call normal in this crazy world." Alec winced at that, glaring down at his claws, curling one hand into a fist. 'I'm not normal.' Ellis sighed at that, having no statement to Alec's obvious dislike toward what he was because of the Infection. He was finding out that he could read his expressions better, to be able to tell what he was thinking, what he was trying to tell Ellis as he stayed near him more. Shifting over a few inches until his knee almost touched the Hunters, Ellis placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Look, you're my friend. You saved me when I was alone and I'll always be grateful for that. But... this is yer world, not mine. If I could survive in it easily, I would stay. Not leave you behind again." Alec glanced up at him before turning his head away, chewing on the inside of his mouth thoughtfully.

Over to the side, Coach stirred, letting out a soft noise in his sleep. Alec was gone before Ellis could even register he had moved. Peering a bit sadly into the water, he wondered what would become of the Hunter once he managed to get rescued. He also wondered if it was right to leave him behind when he obviously wasn't like the others and had no one to turn to for comfort when he needed it. Leaning against the railing of the boat, Ellis closed his eyes and gradually dozed off into a dreamless sleep. He was woken up violently by the boat's horn as Virgil steered it into a dock. It seemed like the others were woken up in a similar manner because there was much grumbling and cursing going around. Sitting up straighter, Ellis stretched his arms above his head, feeling the dull throb of his wounded ribs that would still take another week or so to heal properly. His leg hurt as well and he swallowed a couple pills before standing up. At least it wasn't as swollen any more.

Vaguely, as he woke up more, he wondered where Alec had vanished to and what he was going to do about eye protection. That question was answered by Rochelle. "Uh, Ellis. Where's your hat?" Ellis jumped, feeling his head which was now lacking his signature piece of clothing. Alec had most likely stolen it once he was asleep so he didn't have to hunker down in a dark alley for the day and risk losing the ones he had been following and half-protecting. He scowled, cursing under his breath as they climbed onto the deck, saying quick goodbyes to Virgil as he pulled away. "Alright, let's get going. Let's hope the military is still here somewhere."

They walked for hours, stopping every now and then to rest or apply first aid or swallow a few pills to dull pain. The whole time Ellis saw hide nor head of Alec which meant he was either lost and confused or well hidden. Nick had started calling him 'Hunter whisperer' which got a scowl from Ellis every time. Though he noticed that the insults seemed a bit halfhearted today. Either Nick wasn't feeling well or he was starting to become a bit nicer. The first was more likely but Ellis, as said before, liked to look on the bright side of things.

As the sun was going down, they entered a more run down part of the city. It was most likely a part that had gotten hit with the Infection first and had been over run by Infected before the military could be called to remedy the situation. A safe house was located on the edge of a shanty-town like section with a huge crater in the center from bombings. As they neared it, Ellis froze up. He could hear snorts and grunts near by, a tell-tale sign of a Tank in hiding. His hands trembled lightly and he clutched his gun tighter, shifting a bit closer to Nick who gave him a weird look. He was opening his mouth to ask what he was doing when the ground shook below them. "Shit! Run!" the conman barked, snapping his head around to look for the Tank.

Something fast and black flew over their heads and a roar behind them alerted them to the Tank's presence. A high screech from the same location made Ellis stop and turn around to see Alec standing bravely before the beast, crouched and ready to pounce. "Shoot the Tank!" Ellis yelled, opening fire on the monster as it drew up a fist to smash Alec like a bug. The sudden rain of bullets startled the Tank enough for it to stop but it also turned its attention to Ellis and the others then. "Shit!" he cursed as hit barreled toward him, swatting Alec aside. He ran almost ahead of the others, his leg throbbing as he used it more than it was able to handle. Just as it gave out, something grabbed the back of his shirt and he was hoisted into the air. He yelled to get the attention of the others, thinking the Tank had gotten him but when the thing still didn't drop him when he reached the top of a building he realized that it was Alec. The Hunter dropped him on the rooftop, wheezing slightly, holding is right side. He nodded at the Hunter and peered over the edge of the building. They had made it into the safe house but a rain of rubble had blocked the entrance. The exit probably opened into the building and Ellis would have to make his way through the building to get to them. The Tank snuffled around the rubble, looking for its prey, oblivious to the other human on the rooftop not a hundred yards from it.

Sitting on the concrete of the roof with a huff, he looked over to Alec who was pale and seemed to have trouble breathing. "Thanks Alec. Are you alright? That Tank hit ya pretty damn hard." Alec nodded sucking in a deep breath, grimacing, and letting it out. "Broken ribs?" another nod. Alec sat down next to Ellis, staring at the concrete a bit blankly. He reached up and took the hat off his head, passing it back to Ellis. "Keep it. Yer gonna need it tomorrow." They sat silently for a while. Ellis jumped when something leaned against his shoulder to see that Alec had fallen asleep and was leaning against him like a pillow. He didn't particularly mind but his back was starting to hurt from moving around so much then sitting without support for a long time. But he didn't want to wake the newly injured Hunter, knowing that it probably wouldn't end well. _And for the second time I've been separated from them by a goddamn Tank. _He growled to himself, looking down at Alec's sleeping face. He looked oddly peaceful for something that killed so ruthlessly and easily. It was almost unnatural.

After about an hour he was loosing feeling in his shoulder and his butt was beginning to hurt. He was sure that the others were beginning to grow more than concerned but couldn't come and look for him because the Tank was still outside and any shouting or moving around would draw its attention. Ellis didn't have to sit still much longer though because Alec suddenly woke up, sitting upright and looking around, unnaturally alert for having been almost passed out. His red eyes glowed in the darkness and a low growl from him made Ellis shiver. Alec suddenly yanked the hillbilly to his feet, hauling him over to a doorway that lead into the building and slamming the formerly ajar door closed behind him. A series of coughs could he heard from outside, telling Ellis that a Smoker had been nearby. Alec must have smelled it more than heard it because Ellis had been oblivious to its presence. The Hunter motioned down the flight of stairs that would lead them into the building. Ellis turned on his flashlight, aiming his shotgun carefully should any Infected come running from the sudden light.

They slowly snaked their way down to the ground floor, Ellis mowing his way through the Infected and Alec keeping an eye, ear, and nose out for anything stronger than a common. They were being chased by a horde when they came into sight of the exit to the safe room. While Ellis blasted away any who got too close, Alec reached inside and opened the door, swinging it open and hauling Ellis inside by the back of his shirt, slamming it closed and shoving a shelving unit in front of it once he replaced the hunk of wood that served as a bar to keep it closed. The sound of guns being cocked made Alec stiffen up but he didn't turn around or move in any direction, knowing it would get him shot. Both Hunter and human were breathing hard but Ellis's patience had run out by the time the second Boomer had exploded on them so he turned and glared at Nick Coach and Rochelle. "Put yer damn guns down." he snapped. "Do you honestly think I would let a Hunter in here that would hurt us?" Alec slowly turned around, noticing that Nick's glare got a bit harder.

"That's the dame goddamn Hunter from when we were getting the diesel for Virgil." the conman stated, raising his gun. Alec couldn't help the growl that oozed from him which made Nick cock the gun loudly. Ellis let out a mixture between a groan and a sigh and snatched the gun from him.

"And he ain't gonna hurt us. What do you think kept me alive when you guys abandoned me? Will power and luck?" it was rhetorical and it humbled the three quickly. Letting out a low breath, Ellis forced himself to calm down. "Alec's been protecting me, and you all. He's been working his rear off to keep us as safe as one Hunter can."

"So not safe at all."

"Safer that we woulda been if he hadn't been there ta help." Ellis snapped, making the three jump. He heard Alec let out an amused sound but ignored it. "Do you really think that a Hunter would willingly attack a Witch? Or put 'imself between us and a Tank?" more rhetorical questions that humbled the others. A sudden growl from Alec made all heads turn toward him. He was looking out what he could see of the bars of the exit, red eyes narrowed. Two other growls echoed it, and when Ellis shined a flashlight out the door he could see two Hunters crouched on either side of the door. "I don't think you can take both those on buddy." he muttered to the Hunter beside him. Alec simply growled, one side of his mouth contorting into a snarl that twisted the angry red scars on his face cruelly. As soon as Ellis raised his shotgun to take them out, the Hunters leaped out of sight around the corner. _Great. _He thought. _More unnaturally smart ones. We're royally screwed unless Alec gets a sudden burst of-_ "Hmm. Say Alec, what do you think an adrenaline shot would do to you?"

"You can't be serious?" Rochelle asked. "Give adrenaline to an already high energy... person?" both Hunter and human could tell she wanted to say something other than person. "That's insane."

"Alright. If ya wanna get mauled tomorrow when we leave then fine." Ellis shrugged, seeming nonchalant, knowing that it would work.

"Alright fine. Give him the damn adrenaline. But unblock the door first so when he starts bouncing off the walls we can let him out before he hurts one of us." Ellis saw Alec grin out of he corner of his eye, the scars twisting again, and rolled his eyes. He grabbed an adrenaline shot from a shelf while the Hunter shoved the shelving unit away from the door. Carefully, Ellis slid the needle under the Hunter's skin, getting no reaction from the high-tolerance-to-pain Hunter as the chemicals flowed into him. Nothing happened for a few seconds then Alec's hands started trembling. Ellis immediately opened up the back door as the Hunter shot forward, unleashing him on the other unsuspecting ones. Startled screams turned into pained ones which were snuffed out by Alec's high-energy howls and whoops. Blood sprayed across the hall from around the corner and the four in the room shivered, knowing now that adrenaline plus Hunters equals pain for whoever the Hunter was unleashed on. Another two minutes later, Alec crawled on all fours back to the door, shaking himself like a dog to rid himself of blood from the others. The only injury on him were four small slashes across his chest.

Ellis let him back into the room despite the protests from the others, blocking the door up once he was inside. Alec remained crouched, red eyes flicking around the room, still on a bit of an adrenaline high. He had obviously forgotten that he had multiple broken ribs from being smacked around by the Tank. "Is there anything left of the poor creatures?" Ellis asked with a slight grin. Alec smirked maliciously, sitting Indian style on the floor. That most likely translated into 'not much.' They all shivered at that.

"Alright folks. Seeing as we've been... relieved of one main threat," Coach looked apprehensively down at Alec who shrugged lightly. "We should get some sleep. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow." everyone deflated a bit, taking places on the floor to sleep, either sitting up or using a med-kit as a pillow. That's how Ellis slept, while Alec leaned against the wall beside him, obviously still in protective mode. When Ellis fell asleep, Alec noticed that Nick was glaring at him from his own little corner of the safe room. He raised an eyebrow at the conman making him look away. The white-clad man obviously didn't like that Alec; a Hunter who should be shot not liked; seemed to be closer to Ellis than normal humans. That thought made the Hunter grin to himself, he always did like a bit of a competition. And jealousy was always the best weapon to use.

Nick was the first one up the next morning. He glanced around the room to make sure everyone was still breathing and his sweep screeched to a halt when he passed over Ellis and Alec. The Hunter had shifted out of his upright position during the night and was now curled up in a tight ball against Ellis's back, one arm laid lightly across the hillbilly's side. Ellis obviously hadn't noticed because he seemed to be very comfortable with his med-kit pillow and the body heat from the Hunter. Nick narrowed his eyes into a nasty glare and contemplated 'accidentally' shooting the Hunter while he slept but figured that would get him beaten up by Ellis later on. Alec woke up not five minutes later, cracking open red eyes and seeming to be a bit confused when he saw a wall of yellow-ish cloth before him. Then he felt a vicious glare on his back and couldn't help the triumphant grin that curled its way onto his face. If Nick wanted to have a silent pissing contest than so be it, was the only thought in the Hunter's head as he deliberately snuggled closer to Ellis, listening to angry noise Nick let out.

He then sat up, knowing that if he went to far he would have a couple new holes in him due to short tempers. Stretching, he managed to make his ribs scream in agony. Though they were mostly healed after a good night's rest, he would still be hurting for a couple more days. He smirked at Nick and swiftly snatched the med-kit out from under Ellis's head, effectively introducing it to the cement floor and waking him up. "Oww. Goddamn it man! Why'd you do that?" why not? Was the sort of expression Ellis got in reply. He playfully shoved the Hunter, sitting up to stretch. He then noticed the nasty look Nick was giving the Hunter and narrowed his eyes into a glare. "What's the matter now Nick?" he sighed, getting tired of Nick's apathy toward the Hunter.

"Nothing..." Nick muttered, turning away to wipe some blood off his pistol. Ellis gave Alec a 'what did you do to him now' look and got a shrug in reply though the Hunter was grinning like the cat that caught the canary. "We should wake the others. It's well past morning." the conman said, suddenly a bit energetic sounding.

"Yeah sure." Ellis replied, a bit unsure. Nick's mood swings were starting to give him a headache. He busied himself with waking Rochelle while Nick woke Coach up. Alec absorbed himself with checking the hall through the bars of the exit, making sure no real threats had shown up over night.

"Hey Ellis, why does Alec have your hat?" Rochelle asked motioning to the hat that was still perched on Alec's head.

"Huh? Oh, when we first officially met he had just fought another Hunter that was tryin to get into the safe house I was holed up in. I had to tear his hoodie off to wrap the wounds right and it was shredded beyond use anyway. The sun hurts his eyes so I gave him my hat to use 'till we can get him a new hoodie." Alec motioned to Ellis with a 'yeah what he said' expression.

"Boy, you freaked out when that thing fell of while a Smoker was goin after you and you willingly fork it over to a Hunter just so he doesn't hurt his eyes?" Coach asked a bit sarcastically though not maliciously "Well, that's awful nice and all, but I don't think we should find him a new hoodie until we're closer to rescue so that we don't mistake him for an enemy Hunter." Ellis and Alec both winced at that, exchanging a look and seeming to have a silent conversation that twisted Nick's toga the wrong way.

"Yeah, good point Coach." Ellis said, seeming to speak for both of them. Nick scowled when Alec nodded along to it, not liking how well they got along when all he did with Ellis was bicker. He wasn't jealous, no never, he just didn't like how this Hunter could butt into their lives and be trusted so easily when its 'kin' had been attacking them left and right. "Well, let's get to gettin." Ellis said, ready to be on the move again. They all gathered up their things while Alec ventured out into the hall to pick off any Infected that were too close. He ran right into a Spitter that was right around the corner, effectively scaring both of them. The Spitter ran one way while Alec ran back into the safe room, slamming the door behind him and startling the ones inside. He calmed down quickly though and went back out to make sure it was gone and not coming back. Luckily it was so he didn't have to look at its ugliness more than necessary.

Alec hung toward the back so that he couldn't be pegged with any 'friendly fire' since Nick seemed determined to get him out of the way so he could make a move on Ellis. The Hunter wasn't having any part of that and tripped or slowed down Nick whenever given the chance though he didn't do it to the degree that he would put him in unnecessary danger. Like when a Smoker grabbed him Alec was the first one to react, slicing the tongue then scaling the building the Smoker had been hiding on to kill it. He chased it for a couple minutes, worrying Ellis when he didn't come back right away but a cloud of green smoke and some violent coughs from Alec told him that he was fine and on his way back. Luck was on their side because the Tank from the night before seemed to hate the light as much as Alec did and it never showed up. When the Hunter returned, he looked pointedly at Nick who just turned away, earning an angry snarl from the Hunter.

Nick noticed that if Alec didn't hang around by Ellis, Ellis would gravitate toward the Hunter. That in turn made him more short tempered than normal and he snapped at the hillbilly whenever he was trying to make a joke out of such and such situation. Eventually Ellis just shut up, staying away from Nick for a good while. Alec glared at the man in white briefly before taking up a position next to Ellis which seemed to brighten him up some. Nick didn't like that and felt bad for snapping but his pride wouldn't let him apologize. So he just settled for glaring right back at the Hunter who then seemed to smirk and say 'jokes on you' as the conman promptly tripped over an Infected he hadn't seen before it was too late. Luckily it wasn't a Witch so he was able to dispose of it wit one or two bullets and nothing but a couple scratches. Alec was snickering behind Ellis who was looking concerned. Rochelle and Coach had decided to ignore the pissing contest going on between the Hunter and conman over Ellis who remained oblivious.

At one point, when they were climbing a building to get around a road block, a Jockey rode Ellis right off a ledge. He thought he was going to fall to his doom but a clawed hand wrapped around his upper arm, bringing him to a jarring halt. His feet dangled about twenty feet off the ground, making him gulp some at his near death experience. He looked up, seeing Alec hanging by one hand from a balcony, the rest of him hanging in thin air much like Ellis was. Above him, he could see the concerned faces of his other friends. Down below, the Jockey was a smear on the concrete. Using all the strength he had in his one arm, Alec slowly hauled Ellis up onto the edge of the balcony until he could climb up himself before crawling up as well. "Thanks." Ellis breathed, shaking some from the adrenaline and fear coursing through him.

"You alright down there sweetie?" Rochelle called.

"Yeah Ro. You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up later."

"Like hell we'll leave you." with that Hunter. Alec finished in his head when Nick yelled down to contradict Ellis's decision. "Can't your pet carry you back up?" Alec let out a low screech at that but was silenced by pointed look from Ellis.

"Don't make things worse than they are." he whispered. Alec nodded, though a bit grudgingly. "He ain't my pet Nick. Just get the hell out of here and we'll catch up." no more protests came back down to them once they heard the hint of true anger lacing Ellis's normally cheerful voice. He could hear them walking away and sighed. "What the hell is up with Nick today?" he asked himself. Alec snickered inwardly, knowing full well what was wrong but he wasn't going to share that he knew. It would just be something hard to explain because he couldn't vocalize normally and would end up confusing for both of them. No matter how well Ellis could read him now. "Let's go. This makes three times I've been separated from them. I may as well just hang out here until they get rescued and go on by myself." he hadn't meant for the last part to be loud enough for Alec to hear but his hearing was apparently stronger than Ellis had given it credit for.

Alec growled, grabbing Ellis roughly around his forearm and hauling him up, glaring at him harshly. 'Shut up and quit thinking you're so useless.' he seemed to say, his mouth pulled down into a deep scowl. "A'right. Fine. Let's just get goin so they can't get too far ahead huh?" the Hunter nodded at that, trying the knob of the door that lead inside from the balcony. It was locked. Rolling his eyes with a soft growl, he punched his hand through the glass of the french door and unlocked it from the inside, pushing it open cautiously. "That how you got into that apartment I had stayed in before." Alec nodded while sniffing the air of the condo they had entered. No immediate threats in the room that he could sense. It was half way dark, the widows all covered by white drapes that were partially see through. Enough to see what was going on outside in blurred vision but not enough to see inside.

No Infected really bothered with them as they reached the street, deciding to follow that instead of meandering through rooftops. Already they couldn't see or hear the others which meant they were either in a building or far ahead. When they turned a corner onto another street, Ellis was suddenly wrenched backwards by Alec. The startled yell he let out was silenced when the Hunter slapped a hand over his mouth, shuffling them back into a doorway. The Hunter had one arm wrapped around Ellis's chest, holding his arms down and the other was still clamped firmly over his mouth. It seemed that he did that a lot but it wasn't like the Hunter could say 'shut up' so he didn't mind as much as he should have. Alec seemed to be holding his breath and it didn't take long to figure out why. The snuffling of a Tank was near by and if Alec hadn't grabbed him Ellis probably would have walked right into it. Alec unhooked his arm from around Ellis's front, keeping his other on the hillbilly's mouth and reached behind them, trying the door. It was locked and was solid wood. They were trapped now because the Tank was coming around the corner. Both of them were trembling some as it sniffed around.

The Tank was massive but not as built up. Its muscles weren't as bulgy and it still had its lower jaw so its tongue wasn't hanging out in the open air like a Smoker wannabe. Ellis gulped behind Alec's hand, glad it was there because his teeth would have been chattering from fear of being crushed to death. He could feel Alec's breath on his neck as the Hunter slowly slid Ellis behind him, pushing him against the door, hiding him with his slightly taller form. The Tank snuffled around, not seeming to notice the two trapped in the doorway until it was almost past them and a stray breeze carried their scent to it. It didn't bellow or roar or raise it's fists in a challenge. It simply turned, looking at them with strangely intelligent and sad eyes. Alec snarled out of reflex, flexing his claws in a threat. The Tank flinched back with a frightened whimper. So it was a _cowardly_ Tank huh? Alec snarled again, not seeming to care about the obvious size and muscle mass difference between Hunter and Tank. He had it scared despite the fact that it could smash him just as easily as any other, more muscled beast.

The Tank lowered itself some until it was eye to eye with Alec. It had yellow-white eyes and sparkled sadly in the bright light. It raised one massive fist off the ground, reaching toward Alec. The Hunter snarled, raising a clawed hand. Instead of smashing him, the Tank just poked at his stomach as though to see if he was really there. It let out a series of snorts that made Alec stiffen up, growling back. Ellis was growing more and more confused, and scared. He figured that as soon as the Tank realized that he was there it would stop its friendly behavior and attack. Suddenly the Tank grabbed Alec, squeezing him against its chest in the most dangerous bear hung Ellis had ever seen. Alec let out a strangled squeaking noise that made the Tank release him before bouncing on its knuckles from side to side like an excited dog. Alec looked over his shoulder at Ellis, an eyebrow raised. Ellis shrugged back, not really sure what was going on. Alec turned back to the Tank, pointing at it and letting out a scratchy cry. The Tank snorted something back and Alec nodded, stepping aside and revealing Ellis to him.

It stepped forward on its knuckles, towering above Ellis, and sniffed at his hair. Ellis stood rigidly then noticed that Alec was trying not to snicker. "He got a name?" Ellis asked around the Tank's excited snorts and bellows. Alec clicked his claws against the wood of the building to his side, trying to figure out how to correctly write whatever name the Tank had presented him with. Eventually he managed to scratch 'Keelan' into the wood. He asked an affirmative from Alec and when he spoke the name the Tank bellowed excitedly, bouncing on his knuckles. So he was Keelan. "And let me guess, he's now traveling with us?" Alec nodded though he seemed to want to say no. Keelan bellowed again and when he went to grab Ellis for a hug, Alec got in the way, slamming one of his hands into the concrete of the sidewalk. The force of it created a couple cracks and the Tank whimpered. Alec growled something softly at the Tank and he nodded, seeming to understand. Ellis sighed. "Alright... let's get goin then. Its not like we have a choice any more." Alec copied his sigh, not seeming very happy that they had a new traveling companion but seemed disinclined to protest against it. A Tank was still a Tank no matter how child or dog-like it seemed.

A couple explosions in the distance made the three jump, Keelan taking shelter behind Alec even though the Hunter was much shorter than him and not exactly broad in the shoulders. Ellis couldn't help but chuckle at that while Alec had to restrain himself from slapping his forehead or risk injury by claws. The Hunter trucked bravely down the sidewalk toward the explosions which happened to be coming from the direction of the bridge they were going to. Ellis ran to catch up with Keelan pounding behind him. "He was abandoned too?" Ellis whispered to Alec once he took his spot next to the Hunter. Alec looked at him from under the hat, his eye saying it all. "Yer a bleeding heart." Ellis said with a smile. Alec's pale face took on an interesting shade of pink and he looked away, growling under his breath. He let out a yelp when a massive hand suddenly closed around his middle, noticing that the same had happened to Alec who was squirming and yelping. They were suddenly side by side on Keelan's shoulders and the Tank was pounding through the street, mowing through any in his way. Ellis exchanged a look with Alec and had to grab onto Keelan's shoulders or risk flying off when the Tank hooked a right. He slammed into Alec's side but the Hunter sat rigidly like a wall.

The Hunter wrapped one arm around Ellis's shoulders to keep him in place, digging the claws of his free hand into Keelan's shoulder but the massive Infected didn't seem to notice. They reached the bridge just as it was blown into a million pieces. All the blood drained from Ellis's face as he watched the rubble fall into the water below, knowing that the others were on the other side and probably getting rescued. That thought was confirmed when he saw a helicopter flying away from a pad on the other side of the bridge. His breath came in short gasps as he tried to remain calm. He was left behind and this time there was no going further for rescue. "Why...? Why would they leave me?" he whispered, his voice thick. "Goddamn it!" he wrenched from Alec's grip, jumping off Keelan, making his leg scream in protest, and stalked across the street. "Why the hell would they just leave me here to die? Don't I mean more than that to them?" he demanded though he knew that neither of the Infected standing stunned behind him could answer even if they wanted to.

A clawed hand laid itself on his shoulder, making Ellis flinch but he made no move to stop Alec as the Hunter hugged him from behind. He needed the comfort right now. Leaning against Alec, Ellis let himself cry. His entire body trembled as he sobbed. Ellis didn't notice that he was being picked up, didn't feel it as Alec carried him across the street, up some stairs and into a safe house they hadn't noticed before. He didn't register it when he was set down gently or when Keenan managed to squeeze his way through the narrow door to join the Hunter and human. He just faded into his own mind and eventually cried himself to sleep.

_**I know I know. You're thinking, they wouldn't just leave Ellis to die in zombie-ized hell! Especially with how I portrayed Nick's feelings for him. Don't worry, he'll reunite with them at the end. Just review and let me know what you think please. Please? I've been getting nice ones from awesome people and I love it so... please? Oh yeah, and Keenan means 'little companion' in some form of Irish. Yep, another Irish name. I wanted some irony in the Tank's name, but why I stuck him in there I'll never know myself.**_


	3. Belle of the Boulevard

Separated

_**Argh! I noticed when I was reading through the end of chapter two after I posted it that I started writing 'Keenan' instead of 'Keelan.' Ignore it if I misspell the Tank's name, its 'Keelan.' **_

Chapter 3-Bell of the Boulevard; _Dashboard Confessional_

Alec's eyes didn't leave Ellis once when he finally managed to cry himself to sleep. The human was curled up in a tight ball the corner where the Hunter had laid him. He had watched as Ellis slowly sank into himself as it sank in that he was now the only human left in New Orleans because his 'friends' were too impatient to wait another few minutes for them. _Why couldn't I just carry him back up? Why aren't I stronger? _He wondered, laying his chin on his folded arms that were wrapped around his knees. Keelan was crouched beside him, having barely managed to squeeze into the room. The Tank was snuffling like he was trying not to cry himself. _"Its my fault." _Alec growled to the Tank. _"I wasn't strong enough to get him back up when we fell. Its my fault." _The Tank looked at him with milky, pupiless, yellow eyes. He knew the Tank could see, their eyes were like a Smoker's.

_"Why you fall?" _

_ "One of those stupid back riders. A Jockey is what they call them." _he nodded his head toward the sleeping human in the corner. He didn't really understand why he had grown so attached to Ellis, but didn't deny the fact that he liked him more than he should in a situation like the one they were in. There were a lot of things he didn't understand these days but he accepted them without much of a fight to figure out what had happened and why he was alone. Keelan let out a soft noise that Alec couldn't really identify but he didn't really pay attention. _"I need to get him to safety." _he snarled to himself with a bit of a resolute tone though he knew that it would be nearly impossible now that the bridge was gone. They would have to go back through the city and the around it. That alone would take a week if not more. And Alec didn't really know if Ellis would be travel ready by morning.

Keelan moved a bit closer to Alec, giving him as much comfort as he knew how to without giving him a crushing hug that would make the situation worse rather than better. He also didn't understand a lot of things, much less than what Alec did. He knew that the Hunter and human were his friends and that he wasn't alone and that was about it. The brain of a Tank could hold about as much as a goldfish's without getting overwhelmed. That's why most used force to remedy situations. _"Safety."_ he echoed in a low raspy rumble. He knew that the Hunter and human were his new safety and he was happy with that fact. _"Where's safety?" _he asked, wanting to understand a bit more.

Alec sucked in a deep breath, letting it hiss out between his pointed teeth. _"I don't know."_ he watched as Ellis stirred slightly in his sleep. There were so many things he wanted to say to the hillbilly but he couldn't speak anymore. He had tried and had barely managed to get out his own name after five minutes of growling and whimpering pathetically so he didn't bother any more. But Ellis had learned to read him pretty well, always managing to grasp the gist of what Alec was trying to communicate to him whether through expression, motion, or growls. That had lifted a bit of a weight off his chest but didn't make him feel much better when he thought about why he was helping him. Yes he had initially been helping him out when he realized that his friends had left without him. He had been in the area when he saw the Tank smack Ellis and send him flying down the embankment. He had kept his red eyes trained on him until he had splashed half way into the swamp water, then had looked back to the other three, thinking that Ellis would become an easy kill. But they were running away from a horde, the one in the white suit covered in nasty green bile. It had taken a while for him to reboot his degenerated mind and realize what had happened and since then his brain hadn't stopped working.

In the space of two days he had, to an extent, retaught himself how to read and write, sacrificing sleep and food to learn to communicate and understand. And he still struggled some and would for a long time. His initial intention for protecting and helping Ellis was to prove that he wasn't a monster because of the infection and because he felt bad. He too had been abandoned, by his own family, when he had shown symptoms of being infected. Now, he was doing it because he was starting to feel for him in an unusual but not outright unpleasant way. Though it may be uncouth for the situation, and a bit inappropriate because of the differences between them, Alec found he really didn't care.

Pushing himself onto his knees, he crawled on all fours over to Ellis, sitting down beside his huddled form. In the morning he would hopefully be somewhat recovered from the initial shock that he had been abandoned again and be ready to travel. Keelan stayed by the door, blocking the entrance with his hulking mass so they wouldn't be disturbed by any other pesky Infected. _"I hate this..." _Alec hissed.

_"Hate what?"_

_ "This." _he motioned down at himself. _"What's happened. Everything. Everything's gone wrong. He doesn't deserve this and its too late for us. We've all been abandoned because of this goddamn Infection." _Keelan was confused by the Hunter's anger toward himself but could grasp why he was angry that they had all been left behind. His mother had been killed by an Infected and his father had left him on the streets to die. He didn't know what had happened to Alec, didn't really want to know, but he actually liked what he was now. Though it made him sad that so many were scared by his hulking form, he enjoyed the strength it granted him. He had seen how Hunters leaped and pounced, screeching in almost pure joy from the freedom their motor skills granted them. He had never seen one as sedate and... for lack of a better term, mellow as Alec. He hadn't seen the Hunter leap once and hadn't screeched yet in Keelan's presence. He didn't wear a hood, instead wearing a hat that smelled like it belonged to the human, and wore a leather jacket that had a big rip in one shoulder. His gray graffiti shirt had four small slashes in the front, showing yellowing bandages underneath from a previous injury and he had four angry scars spanning the width and length of his face diagonally. He was an unusual Hunter but a Hunter none the less and Keelan actually feared Hunters because they could be so sneaky and quiet.

Ellis shifted again, letting out a small noise in his sleep. Alec looked down at him then glanced around the room. His red eyes snapped open into an disbelieving glare as he passed over a fresh message on the far wall. _"Ellis, we're so sorry. We couldn't wait for you, we had to evacuate right away. The helicopter wouldn't wait for you. If it would have-" _he stopped reading there, too disgusted. He glared around the room for anything to cover it up before Ellis woke up, seeing a can of paint on a shelf. Standing up, he stalked over to it, wrenching the top off and dipping his hand in, smearing the white liquid all over the message and hiding it effectively. He didn't have any way to offer an explanation to Ellis if he asked so he could save them both a lot of pain by hiding it all together. Throwing the paint can down, letting it spill all over the floor, he wiped his clawed hand on a piece of shredded fabric that was laying on the ground. Probably part of some unfortunate survivor's clothes.

Sucking in a deep breath, he was reminded of his still mending ribs and of the bandages that wrapped around his chest and stomach. The wounds under it were healed up and leaving the gauze in place would give him a skin infection. Sliding out of his jacket and shirt, he slowly unwrapped the gauze, inspecting the fresh red scars underneath that crosshatched the length of his body. That other Hunter had put up a hell of a fight once it realized that it was going to die regardless and was determined not to go down without a fight. Alec was well built, even for a Hunter. Prominent abs and a six pack dominated his body. Though his shoulders were slightly slender there was an unparalleled strength to them that said 'don't mess with me' and usually got him avoided by other Infected. Though his arms were very strong, obvious but not exaggerated muscles rippling with every movement, his powerful legs were his strongest asset. He could leap better than any other Hunter he had encountered but he was still weak when he went up against most other Infected just because Hunter's weren't quite as durable. Most were also short but Alec had retained his natural stature, standing about as tall as your average Smoker.

Because of his more superior strength, he should have been able to grab Ellis and jump back up the four or five stories they had fallen before the Jockey had fallen off Ellis's back and Alec had managed to grab him. And if not jump then climb. But he hadn't and Ellis had made no demands that he should so the Hunter really shouldn't be feeling guilty for the selfishness of the three who the human had called his friends. Alec sighed, slipping back into his shirt and jacket and sitting back down beside Ellis. It was late now, and they all needed some sleep but Alec seemed hesitant to close his eyes.

It bothered him that they would abandon Ellis when they knew that he wouldn't be able to escape easily once the bridge was blown. And if what he had seen of Nick's feelings for the hillbilly was any indication, then there was no way they would leave. Or at least, Nick wouldn't. Something must have forced them to leave quickly other than an impatient helicopter driver. Suddenly he regretted painting over the message they had left but didn't want to dirty his hands again to wipe the paint off. _It was probably just a particularly nasty Tank or a big horde or something. No safe room can hold up forever._ He reasoned while not really believing his own words. But it was enough to put him at ease and the Hunter slowly fell into a light sleep.

He woke up to the sound of crying. Ellis was still asleep beside him but his body was shaking with wracking sobs, tears streaming down his face. Keelan was out like a broken light and showed no indication of waking up any time soon which relieved Alec in some strange way. Alec nudged Ellis lightly, making the hillbilly wake with a start. His blue eyes flicked around the room, some strange hope in them, probably hoping that all he had gone through was just some sick dream. When he saw the Tank by the door and eventually the Hunter sitting beside him, his head sank into his knees again, shoulders shaking. Alec wrapped one arm around his shaking form, letting out a growling sigh. Ellis said nothing for a long time. While he was releasing as much of his anger and sorrow as he could, Alec noticed that dawn was just coming. If at all possible, they would have to start moving today.

"I just don't understand why they would leave without me." Ellis eventually said, his voice a croak that made Alec wince inwardly. The Hunter let out a low, comforting growl, rubbing up and down Ellis's forearm in hopes of reassuring him that he wasn't alone. Ellis leaned into him, letting out a ragged sigh. He was better but not back to normal. That would take a long time. Alec listened to Ellis's breathing even out slowly, still rubbing the human's forearm softly. "Don't eat me for this, but... why are you still stayin with me?" Ellis looked up at Alec, who didn't look at him. "Or do you not 'ave a reason?" his voice dropped to a whisper. Alec looked down at him then, his red eyes blazing with some unreadable emotion. 'No one deserves to be alone.' he wanted to tell him but couldn't. 'I don't want to see you suffer.' he couldn't say. 'I think I love you.' he wanted to scream. But he remained as silently observant and understanding as ever.

Ellis sighed, shifting some but not moving away. "I guess it doesn't really matter. We'll probably never gonna get outta this city." Alec growled at that, making Ellis do a mental backtrack but he didn't speak again for a few long minutes. He actually almost dozed off again, the strong grip Alec had on him and the Hunter's warmth lulling him into a sense of security that wasn't necessarily false. He knew the Hunter would keep him as safe as he could, which was pretty damn safe. He also had the strong feeling that Alec would never abandon him like his 'friends' had. "How are we gonna get outta here?" he asked more to himself than Alec. The Hunter pointed at the still-sleeping Keelan who could mow his way through any horde without a problem. Their only challenge would be another Tank. "Oh..." Alec snickered lightly, sucking in a deep breath, taking in Ellis's scent. Under all the blood and the reek of the Infection that had begun to cling to every possible surface everywhere, Ellis had a fresh cut grass scent with a bit of a car oil smell underneath. It fit him nicely.

Keelan stirred then, letting out a snort and cracking open his milky yellow eyes. He yawned, showing crooked yellow teeth and pushed himself up on his knuckles letting out a series of snorts. Alec growled something back and the Tank turned, opening the door to the safe room with surprising delicacy and squeezing outside with much grunting and heaving. "Well, the world ain't gonna wait on us so we may as well get goin." Ellis sighed, trying to seem a bit brighter. Alec saw right through it though because when Ellis stood up, Alec grabbed his wrist, yanking him back down. Ellis landed in the Hunter's lap with a grunt, Alec's arms locking around him. "What are you doing?" Ellis muttered, not putting up a struggle past wriggling around some to test how strong Alec's grip was. Like iron. He had no hope.

Alec growled as an answer, the sound vibrating from deep in his chest. Ellis took strange comfort in it, studying the graffiti pattern on Alec's shirt. His heart twisted in weird ways as he listened to Alec's heartbeat, being just close enough to hear it faintly. The Hunter's breathing was steady while Ellis's was becoming ragged as the other's warmth seeped through him, both emotionally and physically. He buried his face in Alec's chest, letting out gasping sobs that shook his whole body. He needed the comfort but the way Alec was holding him was awkward considering they were both guys. But Ellis didn't have the energy to care at the moment. He sobbed into the Hunter's shirt, no tears flowing but the emotion there all the same. Alec just sat quietly and patiently, knowing that Ellis needed to let most if not all of everything he had pent up inside out. He wouldn't even react past flinching if the hillbilly had to punch him to relieve his anger and stress.

Slowly his sobs died and Ellis drew in a couple breaths to calm himself down. Beneath the reek of old blood and the Infection, Ellis noticed that Alec smelled faintly of expensive cologne and incense. He had probably grown up in a well-to-do home with butlers and plenty of money. But Ellis had been wrong before. Alec had a southern look about him so he was from the Georgia or West Florida but 'Alec' was a 'rich-man's' name in Ellis's book. Then again, he could always be a simple southern boy like Ellis, raised in a small comfortable home with mid-wage parents. He would probably never know seeing as Alec couldn't talk, and he probably wouldn't want to spill his guts about his home life either way. He was there for him and that was all that really mattered right now.

A sudden bellow from Keelan startled the two. Alec growled, letting go of Ellis and setting him on the floor, motioning for him to stay put. He ran outside, a screech ripping from him as soon as a shotgun was fired. Alec ducked down, strafing to the side with a snarl. Keelan looked unsure whether he should attack a human when they were also protecting one but after a snarl from Alec, he charged with a bellow. Ellis moved to the door, peering out enough to see what was going on. The military was there but they didn't look like a rescue squad. They looked more like a 'blow up everything in our path' squad than anything. They must have been air dropped into the city. One soldier took aim with his M-16 at Alec who screamed at him, leaping onto a building roof then onto the man, plowing him into the ground and ripping out his throat. Ellis gulped, not sure if he should stop his Infected friends. Keelan was beating on a large armored truck while swatting away men with guns. There were bloody holes all over him but he didn't seem to notice them. Alec's sudden pained yelp made Ellis snap his head back to the Hunter. One soldier had managed to catch him in the stomach and calve with his gun and he Hunter had hidden in some rubble from the bridge. Ellis could just see him ripping a strip of fabric off his shirt and tying it frantically around his wounded leg. Hopefully it wouldn't be injured past mild penetration.

Keelan didn't like that his Hunter friend had been injured. With a bellow, he picked up he armored truck and threw it with amazing strength into the river. He then swatted aside any soldiers in his path on his way to check on the Hunter. Alec growled something at him and the Tank rounded on the remaining five or six soldiers. With a roar he charged at them, pummeling them into the ground with an furious gleam in his milky eyes. Ellis was shaking visibly by the time the dust settled. Alec hauled himself out of his hiding place, holding his stomach, a pained grimace screwing his face up. Keelan let out a loud whimpering sound, getting a quick snarl from Alec as he staggered, favoring his injured leg, to the safe room. He made quick work of a med-kit, disinfecting his leg and the bullet wound in his stomach, wrapping and covering both with gauze and taping it securely.

"Are you guys alright?" Ellis asked, unsure as to what to do. Alec nodded though he was in obvious pain from the bullet wounds. "Why'd you attack 'em? They coulda helped us." Alec shook his head, searching the walls of the safe room for the right message. He pointed at one that said 'bombing everything in sight' and Ellis understood. They were a demolition squad, there to destroy more infected parts of the city so it didn't spread too far. Well that plan had just screeched to a halt. Alec growled something at Keelan who was hovering by the door and the Tank let out a bellow, seeming excited, bouncing from side to side on his knuckles. "Ready to go already?" Alec gave him a look that said 'better now than later' which Ellis nodded to. Keelan lifted them onto his massive shoulders, being careful of Alec's stomach and pounded his way back into the city. All Infected gave them a wide berth and they managed to make it out of the city and half way around before it got too dark to see. Ellis didn't have a weapon or flashlight anymore, making a note to grab one or the other next time he saw one. He didn't want to seem like he couldn't take care of himself.

"I think the next outpost is in central Texas. Think we should start thata way and see what happens?" Alec thought about that for a second before nodding. It would be a long trip seeing as the Infected wouldn't be welcome by any rescue he called before then and he really didn't want to be separated from them yet. They were really all he had left. Keelan lowered himself to the ground, allowing the two on his back to slide off. They hadn't managed to find another safe house but they were in the middle of nowhere so the Infected population was way down. Alec stayed up well into the night on watch to make sure no curious Infected followed the Tank's trail to see what it was traveling so much for. When all seemed peaceful, he leaned back against Keelan's side which was serving as a fleshy pillow for both him and Ellis and closed his eyes.

When Ellis woke up the next morning, he felt something pressed against his back. His initial reaction was of course panic then he forced himself to calm down before he gave himself a stress heart attack and peered over his shoulder. Alec was curled up in a tight ball beside him, his back pressed up against Ellis's. The way he was curled reminded him of a cat and he couldn't help but chuckle at the peaceful expression on the Hunter's face. Ellis's hat had fallen off the Hunter's head during the night, revealing the mop of hair the color of dark chocolate underneath. Rolling over, Ellis pressed his forehead against Alec's back, feeling him draw in a deep breath in his sleep, letting it out in a sigh that had a bit of a soft growl mixed in. Even sleeping, Ellis could feel the almost raw power that flowed through the Hunter in the way his sides moved when he breathed in and out and the strong thrumming of his heart that Ellis could feel faintly. His own heart tightened some when he thought about the past few days.

They had been chaotic yes, but he realized that with every sticky situation when his human friends weren't there, Alec was there catching him when he falls, and helping him back up when he's already on the ground. Literally and figuratively. The others were always in the background or not there at all. Swallowing thickly, Ellis sat up some, propping himself up on one elbow and looked at Alec's face again. Peaceful but intimidating, caring but scary all a the same time. It amazed him how it seemed that the Hunter's patience had no end but figured that it was a characteristic of Hunters in particular. If they lose once, they keep coming back and it seemed to be the same way with Alec. No matter how many times it seemed Ellis was crushed down under the foot of the bitch called karma, Alec gave him the comfort he needed most. He would sit silently and wait until Ellis pulled him back together then got him back up and kept him busy with traveling to keep his mind off his worries.

Alec shifted in his sleep, letting out a small whimpering noise. Ellis furrowed his eyebrows. The Hunter sounded scared. "N...ngh..." the Hunter grunted. He was probably having a nightmare. "N... N-no..." he stammered out loud. Ellis's eyes flew open. He had spoken! With difficulty but still, speaking is speaking. It wasn't anything to celebrate if he was having a bad dream though and Ellis wouldn't mention it to him when he woke up. Alec turned onto his back, letting out an unintelligible noise. His eyebrows crumpled together, twisting up the scars on his face. Suddenly, he sat up with a loud screech, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Ellis sat up as well but Alec didn't seem to notice him. He was clutching either side of his head, claws digging into his scalp, his teeth clenched together, his breath hissing in and out loudly.

Ellis realized then that, though Alec gave comfort easily, he didn't seem to ever receive it. He had been abandoned too, Ellis remembered. Those memories must be painful. Had it been his family, or friends? A girlfriend? Fiance? Who had left him behind that it would cause such a nightmare. Hesitantly, not sure of Alec's reaction, Ellis wrapped one arm around his shoulders, pulling him against his side. The Hunter stiffened up noticeably but didn't make a move to pull away from Ellis's hold. If anything, he seemed to melt into it some. Though his entire expression screamed 'no' Ellis wasn't going to let go until he had calmed down. Soon enough, Alec relaxed, reaching over with one hand and taking a hand full of Ellis's shirt in his claws being careful not to tear it. He let out a raspy purring noise, reassuring Ellis that he was fine now but the hillbilly didn't move. Alec didn't seem to want him to so he felt a bit better about being in such close proximity with him without Alec being the one to instigate the contact. "Its alright buddy. I'm here for ya." Ellis whispered, pressing his cheek into Alec's hair. Alec's hand tightened around his shirt and he let out a quiet growl.

There were so many things Alec wanted to say and do in that moment. So he settled for doing the one thing he knew he could do. Using the hand that was holding onto Ellis's shirt, he slowly nudged the hillbilly onto his back on the ground, leaning over him. Ellis looked torn between being confused and scared. Alec smiled, keeping his mouth closed so he didn't scare Ellis with his sharp teeth into thinking he was about to be eaten. Leaning down, he pressed his face into the side of Ellis's neck, breathing in his scent. One hand laid itself on his chest, feeling the human's heartbeat which was getting chaotic. Alec then pressed his forehead to Ellis's reading his emotions through his sparkling blue eyes. Confusion, a bit of fear, and hidden contentment were all battling it out there which made Alec's smile widen a fraction. He then sat back, pulling away from the human so he didn't scare him too much.

Ellis remained on his back for a couple minutes, stunned, before it registered in his mind that he missed the contact from the Hunter. That confused him and he reasoned that he was still in shock from being abandoned and would welcome any form of contact to let him know he wasn't alone. But he didn't really believe it a the same time. He watched as Alec unwrapped his leg, checking the bullet wound carefully. It had closed up but the internal damage to the muscle was still there most likely. Ellis was more worried about the one through his stomach than anything. If it punctured anything important then Alec would get very sick from it and die or the wounded organs would rot inside him and kill him. The thought of losing the Hunter made Ellis's insides do a horrified flip and he suddenly shoved Alec onto his back and was unwrapping the gauze on his stomach. The Hunter just lay there, stunned though not really fighting against Ellis's sudden concern past a surprised cry.

"Did they hit anything important here?" Ellis asked while examining the bullet wound that had scabbed over neatly. Alec shook his head slowly but it seemed like he was unsure himself. Ellis prodded at the area around the wound, watching Alec's expression and eyes for any pain he tried to hide. He also forced himself to concentrate on what he was doing instead of the fact that it looked like he was feeling the Hunter up. Though he was muscled nicely. _No no! Concentrate! _He yelled to himself. "Did the bullet go all the way through?" Alec nodded, this time actually seeming sincere. Ellis looked at the position of the wound, coming to the conclusion that it hadn't punctured anything, or at least anything important. "Good." he grunted, pulling Alec's shirt down to cover the wound, yanking his hands away quickly.

Alec raised an eyebrow at his behavior, not able to stop the grin from forming when he took in Ellis's expression. Sheepish and a bit confused. Sitting up, minding his still sore ribs he got right up in Ellis's face, the grin still present. The hillbilly remained oblivious to what he was feeling toward the Hunter and what the Hunter felt toward him and while it was amusing, it also annoyed Alec to some degree. But he wouldn't destroy what innocence Ellis had left for the sake of self-indulgence. He needed some form of innocence to remain sane in zombie hell and Alec understood that.

Just when Ellis thought something was going to happen, Alec sat up fully, leaning to the side so he didn't knock shoulders with the hillbilly. The Hunter heaved himself to his feet and limped over to Keelan, giving the Tank a rough shove to wake him up. The sun was just above the tops of the trees at this point, maybe about ten or eleven in the morning. Keelan rolled over onto his stomach with a grunt, not waking up. Alec growled, crouching down and pinching the Tank's nose. Slowly, his face turned red and he jerked his head up with a snort wide awake all of a sudden. He shook himself, raising up onto his knuckles like always. He mega-poked Alec in the stomach, making the Hunter fall over backwards, playing dead. That seemed to scare the Tank because he whimpered, nudging him with one massive fist then bending down to sniff at him. Once his face was close enough, Alec suddenly sprang to life, attaching himself to the top of Keelan's head, making him rear up with a bellow. Alec let out his raspy laughter, swinging himself around and sitting on Keelan's shoulders.

Ellis rolled his eyes with a grin, grabbing his hat and allowing Keelan to lift him onto his shoulders. It was overcast so Ellis put his hat on his own head instead of handing it to Alec. His eyes wouldn't be as bothered today since clouds were covering the sun. They stopped a couple hours later since all their stomachs were complaining at their emptiness. Alec vanished into the scrubby forest they had been trekking through, sniffing around for a deer or some rabbits or something. He came back half an hour later dragging a doe with a sliced open throat. Ellis pulled out a pocket knife that he just happened to still have on hand from a couple days ago in the carnival and skinned it, slicing meat out. Starting a small fire, he stabbed a sharpened stick through some meat and held it over the flames, praying the smell didn't attract anything dangerous. Alec gave him a weird look when he started roasting the meat, obviously used to eating it raw but Ellis didn't want to get some funky disease from eating raw deer meat.

He passed some to Alec to try when the Hunter began staring at him hard enough to bore holes through his head when he started to eat. The Hunter didn't seem to like it because his face screwed up some and he discreetly spat it out over his shoulder thinking Ellis didn't notice. He then tore into the carcass, eating part of a shoulder quickly. Keelan ate the rest. They then set out again with full stomachs. As twilight was falling, they passed through a very small town in the middle of a pine forest. Ellis took the opportunity to search through the abandoned houses for a gun and flashlight. He found an old shotgun and some ammo, taking that and after another hour of searching every inch of the eight or so houses he found a working flashlight and batteries. Alec and Keelan followed him to pick off any Infected that remained in the town.

They bedded down in one of the more sturdy looking houses for the night. Ellis was glad for an actual bed for once, immediately collapsing on it. It was really the only usable room so Keelan was just outside the door in what must have been a den and Alec was crouched on the foot-board of the bed looking out the small window opposite him. He turned his glowing red eyes to Ellis after a while and poked at the hillbilly's injured leg, an inquiring look on his face that Ellis could barely see in the dark. He was concerned about its condition, probably having noticed him limping while searching through the town. "Its fine. Just hurts when I use it too much." he had been out of pain pills for a couple days so he had been gritting his teeth through the pain. Alec furrowed his eyebrows, looking around the room for something. Hopping down from the foot-board, he exited the bedroom and Ellis could hear him looking around in an unusable bathroom. He came back in with a bottle, some gauze, medical tape and a couple short pieces of wood. He was going to re-splint Ellis's leg for him since the old one had fallen off a long time ago.

He tossed the bottle of pain pills onto a table and crouched at the foot of the bed. Placing the wood on either side of Ellis's leg, about where the old break was; it had since healed into a bad fracture; he tightly, almost too tightly, wound the gauze around it. Binding it tightly, he unrolled almost the entire roll of medical tape to keep the leg more stiff. He then used his claws to cut the tape and prodded at his handiwork. "Goddamn... yer pretty efficient huh?" Alec grinned at that, taking back his perch at the end of the bed. Ellis yawned, tired even though he hadn't done much except get saddle sores from riding on Keelan's shoulders. He hoped that things would go easily until they got to some safety that would remain safe but didn't really expect much. "G'night Alec." he yawned, closing his eyes. He heard Alec offer a growl back as he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

_**This one's a little shorter but hopefully the next one will be longer. The military will become a common enemy for Alec and Keelan and I'll be introducing a new Infected friend next time. Now I just have to decide on type and gender... hm. Oh well. Review please! I'm loving the ones I've been getting so much! They've been my inspiration so far and I hope to keep improving on my writing (and not lose steam as the story goes on).**_


	4. I Will Not Bow

Separated

Chapter 4- I Will Not Bow; _Breaking Benjamin_

"Guys, I ain't sure about this." Ellis said as he looked down at a river. After three weeks of traveling, they had reached the Sabine River, the border of Louisiana and Texas. "I mean, we don't know how deep it is and you can't swim well." Alec looked genuinely offended by that but kicked a rock into the brownish water. In the three weeks of travel, Alec had been acting stranger and stranger and Ellis couldn't figure out why. Whenever he ran over the reasons for any form of weird behavior, other than him just being a Hunter and weird regardless, he just gave himself a headache. Keelan dipped one huge hand into the water, taking a handful of mud and sniffing at it curiously. The Tank also acted strange but that was just him. Keelan then looked down at Alec who had a 'don't you freakin dare' look on his face as a childish grin spread across the Tank's face. He then threw the mud at Alec who screeched and ducked behind a tree that hung over part of the river. Ellis rolled his eyes. "Focus guys. Maybe there's a bridge somewhere." he looked upstream then down stream. The river was wide, too wide to swim easily and the current was strong. Hopefully any bridges would be in tact.

The followed the flow of the river carefully, staying clear of the muddy bank since Keelan seemed determined to give Alec a mud bath. Alec kept Ellis between himself and Keelan, knowing that the Tank absolutely adored the human and wouldn't do anything to make him upset. It was still early, maybe an hour before dawn, so they had the whole day to travel downstream in search of some way of getting across. Soon enough, a bit past noon, they found a high rising bridge that stood next to another high rising one that had fallen partially into the water. Ellis read a sign at the foot of the bridge. 'Rainbow Bridge.' An iron work structure at the very top looked like a rainbow so it was fitting. Then below that it read 'Neches River.'

"What the hell? Where'd the Sabine River go?"

"Oh you crossed that already my friend. Part of it's dried up back a few miles. Didn't you notice?" said a raspy voice behind them. Ellis spun around while Alec crouched and growled. The man standing behind them was tall and lanky, a shock of dark blonde hair on his head. And he was a Smoker. It looked like he had clawed away the tumors on his face and arm, leaving a mass of scars over his right eye while the other was a milky yellow and pupiless.

"How the hell can you talk?" Ellis demanded, reaching for a pistol he had picked up a few days ago.

"Oh I've taught mah-self a few things in the past months." he coughed violently. "I'm sure your Hunter friend would be able to if he put in the effort." Alec snarled at the Smoker, making a sardonic grin spread across his face while his long tongue twirled in the air. "I'm sure you have my friend." the Smoker turned his attention back to Ellis. "My name's Philo just so ya know." Alec snickered something at him, making the Smoker glare through his one eye. "I may not _look _very loving but not everything is on the surface frog-legs." Alec let out a startled screech at the nickname, narrowing his red eyes.

"What?"

"Hum? Oh, Philo means 'to love' in some form of German." he glared at Alec while coughing. "Yer friend here seems to know a bit of German." Alec growled at him. "And Spanish?" another growl. "And French. You're well read my friend." Ellis turned his gaze from Philo to Alec who shrugged. Philo coughed and turned his attention to Ellis again. "So what's a human like you doing traveling with company like this?" he nodded his head toward the Tank and Hunter. Keelan had his stare centered on the Smoker's tongue, seeming unsure about whether he should jump rope with it or rip it out of the Smoker's mouth. Alec just looked like he wanted to kill him.

"Its a long painful story. Uh, is there anywhere we could stay ta talk?" Alec shot him an incredulous look, red eyes blazing furiously at the prospect at talking with a Smoker who had insulted him but he didn't make any move to protest.

"Yup. There's a restaurant on the other end of the bridge. C'mon. I'll show ya to it." Philo sauntered past the three. As he passed Alec, the Hunter snarled something at him that made him grin. "Whatever ya say frog-legs." another growl, this one more guttural.

"Alec, behave." Ellis warned. Alec glared at him briefly, though he didn't really seem to mean anything by it, and growled something to Keelan. This made the Tank pound ahead to catch up with the Smoker who was now making his way up the bridge, dodging around cars that were piled at the bottom of the steep structure easily. "Look, I don't like Smokers anymore than you do but any help is welcome at this point." Ellis said as Philo paused to make sure they were following. Ellis started walking, forcing Alec to walk beside him or get left behind. "If anything, he can give us directions ta the outpost or somethin that resembles safety." the bridge was steeper than it looked, Ellis realized as he started climbing. Alec remained grudgingly quiet until they started the descent and Philo had paused with Keelan a few feet behind them to wait.

"So frog-legs," the Smoker started, "why ya travelin with a human and a Tank? That ain't like yer kind." Alec snarled at him, keeping it low in his throat to seem more threatening. "Well what do ya want me to call ya besides frog-legs. That's what all yer kind are, a bunch of leapers." the Hunter let out a raspy whine that made Philo grin wider than necessary. "I'll call ya by yer name when I feel like it. 'Till then, its frog-legs." one of Alec's eyes twitched at this, something comical and creepy at the same time, considering that it made a couple of the scars on his face twitch.

They reached the end of the bridge in silence except for Philo's occasional coughs and hacks. They went across a wooden walkway that crossed a small ditch and climbed some stairs into the restaurant which was suspended on stilts above an inlet in the river. "So what's yer story my friend?" Philo asked once they had all sat down comfortably in a chair. Except Keelan, he was forced to stay outside because of his weight otherwise the floor would have caved in beneath him. Alec seemed to want to stay with him but he also didn't want to leave Ellis alone with a Smoker, no matter how human it acted. Talking, Alec scoffed to himself. Infected were meant to make the noises they were meant to make. Or at least, that was the attitude he had gotten when he had discovered how hard it would be to re-learn to speak with some form of coherency. He say quietly while Ellis summarized their journeys in zombie-ized hell, keeping his blazing red eyes centered on the Smoker who sat with polite silence until Ellis was finished with the story. "It seems like you've been through quite an experience." he commented.

_"Yeah no shit." _Alec snarled under his breath, drawing the Smoker's attention.

"You seem to have something to hide frog-legs. Care to explain to someone who can understand your angry dog and cat imitations?" Philo inquired with sarcastic innocence. Alec snarled violently at him, a wordless noise that made both at the table flinch some. "Alright alright. No need to get angry at me now, I'm just pickin."

_"Keep your goddamn comments to yourself you giraffe tongued freak. And stop calling me frog-legs. My __name__is Alec." _he hissed, noticing Ellis's concerned and slightly annoyed stare. He didn't know why he was in such a bad mood but he couldn't seem to shake it. All the traveling must be getting to him. The Smoker's antagonism wasn't helping either.

"Now that was uncalled for. Don't you know when someone's teasin?"

_"No, I apparently don't. Now if you don't mind, we have to get going to the next outpost."_

"Wait wait." Philo stood up as Alec did. Ellis was starting to get fed up with only hearing one side of the conversation. He was starting to wish that he could understand what Alec was growling about but at the same time he was sort of scared to find out if the look on his face was any indication. "The port upstream is mostly cleared. The military came through last week and wiped out the docks and inner town up to just past the high school which is about a mile or so inland from the river. I could take ya there though it's a day or so's walk upstream."

Alec opened his mouth to snarl a reply but a particularly nasty and uncharacteristic glare from Ellis made him shut it with a loud click. "That'd be mighty nice of ya Philo. Thanks." Philo seemed relieved that at least one of the two seemed to like him, starting to become concerned for the human who's name he barely knew. If the Hunter was that short tempered with him, then the human would stand no chance if he couldn't read the warning signs of a temper about to snap in half.

"Awesome. We can follow the highway off the bridge through this town here. Its easier than weed whacking through scrub and marsh. The gators have been out and about more since the Infection, lookin for easy pickins." Philo seemed happy that he was being accepted which lifted Ellis's sour mood some. The traveling was getting to him as well so he understood Alec's suddenly short temper when the Hunter was normally the definition of patient. "C'mon. The sooner we get to gettin the better off we are." he paused on his way to the door. "And I warn ya, the refineries are shut down so the fumes are gonna be stronger than they should be. Most Infected have cleared out 'cause of it but I enjoy it myself. Its homely." Ellis and Alec exchanged a look. Refinery fumes homely? More like stinky. But they followed him outside, picking up Keelan on the way to the highway. Philo rambled and coughed while Ellis added his input. Alec had taken a spot on Keelan's shoulders to get away from the stench of Smoker smoke for a while.

They walked through a town that was called 'the city of Groves' though it was still a small port/refinery town. Sort of cozy sort of not. It said 'welcome' but it also said 'you'd better have a bad sense of smell.' That fact became especially true when they passed three or four refineries that were all clumped together. Philo hadn't been kidding when he said it stank. Alec eventually had to cover his nose with his shirt or risk passing out from how strong it was. "It wasn't ever this bad when they were workin." Philo explained between coughs that were made worse by the stench. "Sometimes it would get kinda bad but never like this. The chemicals have been leaking for a few weeks since they haven't been operatin. No one fart." Alec rolled his eyes at the attempt at humor, the nasty attempt, and dropped down from Keelan's shoulders.

_"Your disgusting."_

"You're a sissy."

_"You're an ass." _that ended that short bout of bickering as Philo looked away. He seemed awful sensitive to what others thought of him but didn't seem as sensitive to what others thought when he made fun of them. Normally Alec wouldn't really mind, maybe even playfully banter with him for a while, but they had been on the road too long. Too many attacks by both Infected and the military to take jokes now. They needed to rest for at least a week to get their good humor back, both Alec's and Ellis's. Keelan was naïvelly oblivious to everything, acting like a child or dog all the time. Sometimes Ellis and Alec envied him for his innocence in every situation. He was easily scared but curious, he liked to try and have fun all the time but had stopped joking around as much as he noticed his companions' tolerance toward the jokes and games deteriorate.

Eventually, they entered the town of 'Port Neches' which was built right on the Neches River, hence the name. It seemed a bit more welcoming then Groves but that might just be because the reek of refinery fumes was a great deal fainter even though the plants backed right up to the city borders. Philo lead them into the town, back toward the river. "The high school is completely cleared out. It was the military's outpost here while they stayed because its the biggest building in the town. You can stay in there and recuperate for as long as ya want to." he lead them to a massive red brick building that had a purple and white Indian head with a head dress carved on the main entrance with letters edging the circle around it reading 'Port Neches-Groves High School.' It was still in good condition though many of the windows were broken on both floors. "The auditorium, band hall and cafeteria are all still in good shape and big enough for yer Tank here." Philo motioned at Keelan who shifted on his knuckles, also a bit worn out from the three straight weeks of traveling.

"Awesome. Thanks Philo. Would ya mind showin us where they are so we're not lost and confused?" Ellis asked, grateful for the Smoker's help but still a bit hesitant to go inside without as much back up as possible in case the Infected had repopulated the building. They hadn't seen many going through the towns and the ones they had come across avoided them because, while there was a human with them, there was also a Smoker, a Hunter, and a Tank. Any smart creature, no matter their brain capacity, would know to avoid a group like that.

"Sure!" Philo said brightly, glad to keep the company he had as long as possible. The doors were still open, leading into a circular portion of hallway that had the library at the opposite side from the entrance, the main office to the right and what read; from a sign hanging above it; the attendance office to the left. Philo lead them over to the right, pointing down a hall that had a big purple 'D' at the top near the ceiling "Down there's the cafeteria." he said before leading them further down the hall. They came to two sets of big wood double doors that were across from another entrance. "In there's the auditorium." he lead them further down the hall and to the left. Ellis almost fell down the steep drop that came out of nowhere. He lead them past a gym that was absolutely trashed, past some beaten up purple painted double doors, saying those lead to the stage, and to the right. He took another left and pointed to a window at the end of the shorter hall. "By that window is the band hall. I suggest that because all the walls are made of cinder blocks and there's an emergency exit that will take you outside to behind the stadium in-case ya have to get out fast."

"Thanks again." Ellis sighed, actually a bit tired. The building looked huge from outside but seemed even bigger on the inside. He noticed that not a single noise had come from Alec during all the touring after the Hunter and Smoker's brief bickering match. Then he noticed that he wasn't even with them anymore. "Alec?" he called back down the hall they had come from. When he got no reply, Ellis started to get concerned. They backtracked, noticing that the purple doors that lead up to the stage had been wrenched open, the pad lock that held them together laying in pieces on the ground. How they hadn't noticed the sound of it before they would never know. Climbing up some stairs, the saw Alec walking through some percussion instruments that were gathering dust there. His eyebrows here knit together and he seemed to be thinking hard about something. "Alec, you alright buddy?" the Hunter didn't respond, in his own little world. Ellis shot Philo a look when the Hunter growled something to himself.

"He said that he's been here before." he translated. "But I've never seen him here before, and I think we're about the same age. How old is he?"

Ellis shrugged. "At least twenty-one. I'm not sure. I'm twenty-three and he looks about my age."

Philo shook his head. "We didn't go to school together and I grew up here. Where'd you meet up?"

"Somewhere in east Mississippi or west Alabama." the human shrugged again.

"Well his voice, rather, his infected voice, doesn't have much of a Texan accent, or much of any sort of southern twang to it. He sounds like a city boy." Philo scratched absently at the mass of scars about where his eye should be, his tongue twitching in thought. "Hold up, maybe he'll respond to another Infected since he seems to be zoned." he walked toward the Hunter slowly, letting out a series of coughs. Alec snapped his head toward him then. _"You've been here?" _Philo coughed.

_"Yeah. A long time ago. I was like, I dunno, five or so? My parents move down here for a couple years and I came to a concert in this auditorium. I remember the band, it was great, though a bit small."_

_ "Its grown since then. Where'd you live after that?"_

_ "My family moved a lot, my dad was in the army and went to different forts from time to time. From here we went to Oregon, then across the country to west Alabama." _Alec shook his head. _"Why the hell am I telling you this though..." _he snorted, though he didn't sound particularly mad or annoyed for once since Philo had met him.

"'Cause it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside." Philo said in the human language, a bit sardonically. Alec twitched and growled at him.

_"Look you long tongued antagonist-"_

"Hold up y'all. What are you sayin first off?" Ellis interrupted, stepping onto the stage. Philo translated what all they had just said despite how much Alec wanted him to keep it to himself. "You were an army brat?" he looked at Alec.

_"So to say..."_ he grumbled, allowing Philo to translate.

"Ya look like you came from a wealthy family frog-legs." the Smoker commented. Alec turned a bit red at that and turned away, stalking to the edge of the stage and sitting down, hanging his legs off the edge. "He's awful sensitive huh?" he whispered to Ellis.

"I wouldn't really know. I never asked about his past before he was Infected 'cause he can't talk. I think," he paused to make sure Alec wasn't paying attention. He had slipped into his own little world again. "I think his home life wasn't very happy otherwise he wouldn't be reacting like this."

"You seem to know him pretty well though, despite that he can't talk."

"I've learned to read him."

"Though it seems like you're missing a few things and its starting to make him feel a bit unwanted."

"Huh?" Ellis was confused again. Philo just shrugged.

"It ain't my place to say but I think he doesn't like me much 'cause he knows that, 'cause I can talk, I can translate whatever he growls. There are some things it seems that he doesn't want revealed. Either that or he's waitin for you to figure it out for yer-self."

"That ain't fair." Ellis hissed. Philo just let out a raspy laugh, which made him cough. "Hey what time is it, about." Philo swallowed another cough, peering out over the seating below the stage to look at a clock against the far wall.

"Seven."

They had spent a long time talking at the restaurant, longer than Ellis had realized. And it had taken a while to get to and through the towns to the school. "Oh ok." he turned as Keelan let out a soft snuffling noise behind them, not able to squeeze through the double doors because they were too low for him. "What's wrong?" Keelan snuffled again the bellowed. At the same time Alec let out a screech and light flooded the auditorium from the main entrances. Dozens of troops rushed in, all carrying guns. Alec scrambled backwards, hiding behind three tympanies that were set up in a semi-circle. Philo hid behind a base drum while Keelan whimpered. Ellis was hidden behind some black curtains that hid things backstage so he didn't move. Keelan whimpered again. "Sh. It's alright big guy." Ellis whispered, listening to the tromping of the soldiers' shoes as they came up the isle, looking for Alec. Hopefully they hadn't seen Philo or Keelan but Ellis was scared for his Hunter friend.

"Where'd that Hunter go?" one soldier whispered, waving the beam of a flashlight he carried over the stage. Ellis noticed that Alec had used his dark clothes and the darkness of the auditorium to his advantage and had snaked his way behind some black curtains much like what Ellis was sheltering behind. "And I hear a Tank too. Careful." at that point, Philo was too late to stifle a racking cough, and he winced as all light beam centered on the bass drum. His entire expression screamed 'shit.'

Keelan let out a low growl then, scaring Ellis because he had never heard the Tank make a noise like that. "Keelan." Ellis warned in a low voice. The Tank let out an angry bellow, shoving his way through the double doors and up the stairs, hurling himself at the soldiers. "Keelan!" the Tank ignored him though, taking every bullet as he pounded through the seats without difficulty. He didn't like that any of his friends were being threatened. The soldiers scattered, using the seating to their advantage because it slowed the massive Infected a fraction. Ellis watched in horror then jumped as a hand laid on his shoulder. Philo looked at him, then around the auditorium.

"Find somewhere to hide that can't be easily reached by brain dead idiots. Alec's gonna signal a horde to get the Tank outta there before he gets killed." Ellis nodded, looking around the stage for somewhere he could hide. He noticed a metal ladder that lead up to a storage area above the stage where things from the drama department and choir put things that couldn't be stored anywhere else. It wouldn't be easy to reach but he took that to his advantage. Climbing up the ladder, he watched over his shoulder as Alec stood up from his crouched position and made his way over to some chimes. The Hunter took a mallet in his clawed hand and struck every chime on it as hard as he could, the loud noise echoing around the huge room. Screams could be heard from outside. The soldiers were now trapped between an angry Tank and a horde.

The unfortunate thing was that the Tank was already weakened a great deal, more bullet holes in him than there were holes in Swiss cheese. Ellis swallowed as he took in his condition, noticing that he was slowing down. "Please don't die." he whispered as the soldiers continued to unload into him. One was suddenly yanked off his feet, a slippery tongue wrapped around his neck and chest. Another suddenly had a slit throat. Out of the four or so dozen that had entered, only about twenty stood and once the horde entered, they would all be picked off. Especially quickly now that Alec and Philo were helping out. Keelan teetered some, his coordination thrown off as the pain from the bullet wounds registered in his mind. "Please." Ellis whispered from his hiding place. The horde broke through the doors at that point, tearing into the now panicking soldiers easily. It was a small horde, but a horde none the less. Most of the town's population had either been Infected and killed or had evacuated before they were Infected.

The soldiers and horde were both demolished together. Alec and Philo had been attacking mainly the soldiers but didn't want any loiterers once they were taken care of. Once the last one was killed, Ellis climbed down from his hiding place and ran over to the three Infected. Keelan was laying on his side, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He was losing too much blood from too many wounds to be patched up before he died. Alec and Philo were panting from their fight, Philo having three holes in him, Alec having five. But all were in unimportant places and would all heal within a couple days. "Goddamn it..." Ellis whispered, taking in Keelan's suddenly very sad looking form. "Goddamn it..."

Alec clenched his bloodied up hands together, looking away from the Tank as his breath faltered, slowed, then stopped. Another friend had been lost, whether through being left behind, or through being killed. When Alec looked back toward the Tank, there was a cold gleam in his eyes that honestly scared Ellis to such a degree that he took a step back. He was mad. If not at the military, then at himself for not being fast enough to call the horde and kill the soldiers. Ellis could tell he wanted revenge, but knew the Hunter knew that revenge wasn't the answer. Not in a situation like the one they were in. The only answer to the Tank's death was to continue to survive. That was all they really could do. They couldn't mourn over Keelan like they wanted to. Not now. No matter how much Ellis and Alec both wanted to break down over it, they had to keep themselves together until they got somewhere they could rest and recuperate. And hopefully, the military wouldn't be there to ruin it again.

"I'm truly sorry y'all." Philo said, his milky yellow eye centered on the bloodied floor. "I truly am."

"I know Philo." Ellis said in a thick voice. Alec closed his eyes again, letting out a sigh through his nose. "We can't stop now though. This place obviously ain't safe anymore. Do you know another place we could hunker down and regain our strength for a week or so? Preferably military free." Ellis unconsciously moved closer to Alec, seeking comfort in the Hunter's presence.

"Yeah, the next partially cleared up place is Nederland. Been that way, and military free for about two weeks. But its late now. We can rest in a classroom for the night then in the morning I'll take ya to Beaumont."

"Alright. That sounds good to me. Alec? What about you?"

Alec looked up at him, his expression saying 'what? You're actually asking my opinion?' though the cynical look was mostly from losing Keelan and traveling so much. He sighed and nodded. _"Preferably well across the school giraffe-tongue." _he hissed at Philo who raised his single eyebrow at the nick name. But the Smoker nodded, stifling a cough. He lead them out of the auditorium, Alec and Ellis casting one last sad look back at the form of their dead friend. Philo was true to his word when he said he would get them across the school. He even brought them up stairs for the heck of it.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Philo ragged on Alec some. "I think the first thing I'm gonna do when we get outta here is teach you to talk frog-legs."

_"And what makes you think you're coming with us after you get us to Nederland?" _Alec growled from his place on a window ledge.

"Well you two won't be able to make it far without some other form of help now that Keelan's gone. As soon as you get past Beaumont, the Infection gets as bad as ever again until you get to Austin." Philo paused. "I think Houston is partially wiped of the Infection but the reek of rotting bodies will be a bit strong." seeing as the military's way of 'taking care of' the Infection was shooting all the Infected, Philo was right.

"Ya know Alec, I'd like to hear what yer actual voice would sound like." Ellis said suddenly from his seat in a particularly plush teacher's chair. Alec was glad that it was dark now otherwise the hillbilly would see his face turn an interesting shade of pink.

_"Fine. I'll give it a go. But only while he's asleep. I'd like to save myself some embarrassment."_ Alec turned his head away to look out the window again, his eyes glowing in the lack of light. Philo let out a raspy chuckle from his place stretched out on the cold tile floor. Though Alec seemed a bit rough around the edges right now, he was sure that once they got some energy and humor back, the Hunter would make a good friend. The Smoker needed one, having been alone since the Infection started, nearly six months ago now. It seemed like much longer but in retrospect it wasn't that long a time at all. Philo closed his eyes then, not falling asleep but making it seem like he was out like a light. He would keep watch once Alec was sure that Ellis and Philo were both out and had gone to sleep himself so that the Hunter could be put at ease even though he didn't know the Smoker was still up. Teaching the stubborn Hunter to speak would be a fun challenge for the now bored with life Smoker and he looked forward to it.

_**Feel free to hate me for killing Keelan but he was sort of just a filler character until I introduced Philo. I didn't really care for him anyway seeing as I don't really like Tanks in general. And it may also seem like I don't like the military either but I like them a lot. Every male in my family had been in some form of military unit so, its sort of genetic. Review please! I'm loving the ones I'm getting and would like for the awesome feedback to continue.**_


	5. Pictures Of You

Separated

_**I really don't like how the last chapter turned out so hopefully I can make this one a bit better. And I know it may seem a bit unrealistic for a Smoker to be able to talk that easily but he's been relearning for six months so... And I really needed a translator for Alec. Hope this chapter's better than the last...**_

Chapter 5- Pictures of You; _The Last Goodnight_

Ellis whooped as he swung off a branch and landed with a splash in the oddly clear water of the lake that Alec, Philo, and himself had been camped out at for the past couple days. They had traveled north to Toledo Bend because Nederland was overrun with military and were currently recuperating from not only the three straight weeks of traveling but also from loosing Keelan to the hand of the soldiers. Alec was perched up in a tree with Philo below it, holding a cigarette with his long tongue. So far, in the week they had been traveling with Philo, the Smoker had managed to get Alec to speak small words like his own name, yes, no, hello, bye. Things like that. Their 'lessons' always went on while Ellis was sleeping, or they thought he was sleeping. He thought it was kind of funny but also sort of depressing that Alec struggled so much. Philo had explained that it had been hard for him but not as hard as its been for Alec because Smokers let out more human noises while Hunters sound like an angry cat. That had gotten a snarl from Alec and the Smoker's scared up face had met with a tree hard enough to crunch the bone of his nose a good deal.

When Ellis came to the surface, he let out a sigh at the cool water. It was an oddly warm day for it being the middle of autumn and they were all sweating some. Alec had long since abandoned his leather jacket and found a new shirt, this one a brown polo he had stolen from a house. "C'mon guys, it ain't that deep." Philo looked up at the Hunter in the tree above him, raising his single eyebrow in question. Alec grinned, rocking back and forth on the branch some. Ellis raised an eyebrow as the Hunter pulled off his shirt, amazingly keeping his balance, and kicked off his shoes once he sat down on the branch. He then dropped down until he was hanging from it, swinging himself back and forth. Once he got enough momentum going, he let go and landed in the water beside Ellis, spraying him in the face with water. "C'mon Philo! Don't tell me yer scared." Ellis taunted.

"I don't swim."

"Wuss." Alec snarled in the human tongue as best he could. His voice wasn't all that deep, masculine, but smooth, calming. A wealthy person's voice. Even though he said he came from an army family, one of his parents must have had a better paying job or had had rich grandparents that had forked over a lot of money when they died. Philo took the taunt and pulled off his own shirt and shoes, showing a scarred up side and chest from where he had clawed all the tumor that had grown on him when he had been Infected. He used his tongue as a rope and swung himself into the lake, purposely landing on top of Alec, sending them both under the water. Ells paddled back some to avoid thrashing claws as Alec flailed beneath the Smoker. In the clear-ish water he could see Alec plant his hands on the muddy lake bottom. He mule kicked Philo off him and the Smoker shot out of the water like a ballistic missile. He landed with a huge splash a few feet away.

Luckily the water was just shallow enough for the two to touch the bottom since they couldn't swim that well anymore, if they ever had. Ellis floated on his back, enjoying the cool relaxing water while he could because they would have to leave in a couple days. Alec's head broke through the surface beside him a couple heartbeats later going under. Philo was still under, probably having used his tongue to grab Alec's ankle and drag him under. A trail of bubbles followed Alec as he let out a screech under the water. Ellis rolled his eyes at their antics, glad that they got along now, but still concerned. If one of them inhaled too much water, the other would be the one performing CPR because it was their fault and Ellis really didn't like the idea of putting his mouth on an Infected's, no matter how good a friend they were. It was an instinctual thing that Ellis's mind partially rebelled against.

He had noticed that Alec's strange behavior had returned some once they had reached the lake. Whenever he asked Philo about it, the Smoker simply told him to figure it out for himself. That irritated the crap out of the hillbilly because he _couldn't _figure it out. The Hunter was like a rubix cube, turn him one way and you get a whole new problem on the other. "Agh! Get off me you stupid leaper!" Philo yelled suddenly a few meters away. Ellis sat up in the water, planting his feet on the bottom to watch Philo yank and pull at Alec who was clinging to the top of his head. Even though Alec was almost as tall as Philo he still managed to make himself small and wrap himself around the back of Philo's head, his claws digging into the other's skin sharply. They acted like a couple of five year olds sometimes and crotchety old women the rest. At least toward each other. It was no secret that the both adored Ellis though Alec seemed more attached. Of course that was most likely because he had been traveling with him more.

Ellis watched as Alec grabbed Philo's tongue, tying it in a knot and the pounced off his head and into the water, vanishing. Ellis felt Alec swim past him and the Hunter resurfaced behind him. It seemed like they were learning to swim again. "Why do you torture him like that?"

"Fun." Alec grunted with a grin, sinking below the surface. He crawled out of the lake as Philo struggled with the tight knot his tongue was now stuck in, shaking himself like a dog. Ellis shook his head, really not sure what to do with his Infected friends.

"Frog-legs! Get back here and untie this!" Philo held up his knotted tongue, an absolutely indignant expression on his scarred up face. Alec, still crouched on the shore, snickered at him over his shoulder, shaking his butt at him in a taunting gesture. Philo let out an angry noise, smoke puffing out of his mouth and he could only glare at Alec as the Hunter crawled back to his perch in the tree to redress. Ellis took note of the numerous scars that littered Alec's torso, feeling his face heat up as the Hunter paused and looked down at him, having felt his gaze. He looked away quickly, busying himself with trying to untie the Smoker's tongue when Philo waded over to him, tugging on his arm pathetically, letting out a raspy whimper. He didn't particularly like touching the Smoker's tongue, but it was better then just telling him to cut if off. That would get him dunked under the water most likely and Ellis really didn't feel like inhaling water.

"Its hopeless." Ellis decided after struggling with the slimy muscle for a while. "You try. I need ta go disinfect my hands."

"Yer so funny." Philo hissed. Ellis waded out of the water, wiping his hands on his pant legs to get rid of the feel of Smoker tongue. He felt dirty all over. Alec meanwhile was glaring viciously at Philo. How dare he even _ask_ Ellis to touch that slimy thing. He contemplated drowning him but figured that the hillbilly wouldn't be too happy with him if he killed the Smoker for a reason like that. He looked down into the lake, watching his distant reflection ripple some. A sigh dragged from him and he turned away from it. What was there to look at except scars, fangs, claws, and inhuman red eyes? He looked like a monster.

Balancing on the branch carefully, he pulled on his shirt before sitting down and yanking on his shoes and his steel toe boots. They were covered in mud and blood but Alec didn't really care. They hadn't let him down yet so he had not desire to part with them for the sake of cleanliness. Though he was probably as clean as he had ever been since he was Infected now that he had taken a dip in the lake. He felt Ellis's eyes center on him again and couldn't help the grin that twisted onto his face. He'd been acting strangely and Ellis probably thought that Alec was acting strange himself. Alec knew the reasons though, even though Ellis was blissfully unaware of everything that involved any feeling that went past simple friendly like. "Yo frog-legs!" despite how much he hated the nickname, Alec responded to it anyway, glaring down at Philo who had gotten his tongue unknotted. "A storm's rollin in. We need ta head back to the cabin." a quick glance at the sky told Alec that the Smoker was right. Dark gray clouds were blotching out the blue sky.

They had found a cabin just off the main highway that was clear of Infected. In fact, the entire area seemed to have been cleared out. The cabin was sturdy and fully furnished so it was like everything was normal again. If it weren't for the fact that Alec and Philo were Infected. Thunder rolled in the distance as they made their way from the lake to the cabin, which was about a quarter mile inland. The sky opened up when they had only been inside for five minutes, rain pouring in buckets, lightening flashing, thunder shaking the windows. Ellis pried open a can of pasta, scarfing it down like a starved animal. Between what they could scavenge from abandoned houses and and what Alec could hunt down, Ellis had been losing a bit too much weight for his tastes. But it was enough to keep him going. Alec was losing weight too, Philo not so much because he had only been with them for a week. The Smoker was lanky any way, a bit of a bean pole.

Alec sat down heavily in a lazy-boy recliner, suddenly tired. His mind had been whirling all day over several things. He had been careful about what he growled now that Philo could translate whatever he said, whether to himself or to the Smoker directly. There were things he wanted to either keep hidden or to say for himself once he got his voice back some more. Or have Ellis figure it out for himself, but it seemed like that was a long shot. Rubbing his palm over his forehead, Alec let out a mix between a groan and a growl. In all honesty, he was starting to feel unwanted even though he knew that wasn't the case. Ellis was just that naïve apparently.

The Hunter didn't even realize when he dozed off but when he came back to the waking world, it was dark out. Philo was more or less passed out on the long couch over to Alec's left and Ellis was holed up in the single bedroom. They switched off on sleeping places. Alec had taken the bedroom first because a) he had been the one to find the cabin, and b) he had recently been attacked by another, rather territorial Hunter. Ellis had forked it over to Philo for the second night and now it was finally his turn. On a whim, Alec stood up, creeping with silence only a Hunter possessed to the bedroom. The door was closed and squeaked on its hinges when Alec opened it slowly, wincing as Philo shifted in the next room, letting out a cough in his sleep. He closed the door silently behind him, being reminded about before he had made first face to face contact with Ellis and had snuck into a safe house to deliver some supplies to him under the veil of the night.

It was still raining pretty hard outside, hiding the slight creaking of the floorboards as Alec crept up to the bed. He crouched beside it, staring at Ellis's sleeping face. It was peaceful, innocent. Everything Alec wanted to be, everything he had lost when he turned into a Hunter. He ran one claw lightly over the line of Ellis's cheek bone then down his jaw, watching as the hillbilly's eyebrows furrowed. Alec drew back when he shifted onto his back, letting out a soft noise in his sleep. Alec sat down on the wood floor, leaning one shoulder against the bed, resting his chin on the mattress with a soft sigh. He closed his glowing red eyes, slowly dozing off. When he woke up, the storm had passed, Ellis and Philo were still out like broken lights, and the sun was almost above the trees. A couple rays stabbed through the window beside the bed, hurting Alec's eyes. He looked over at Ellis, who's face was illuminated by the light. It made him look all the more innocent, like an earth bound angel almost.

_"I don't deserve him... even if he did realize..."_ Alec cut himself off with a sigh. It would never happen, and if it did by some miracle, it wouldn't work out. They were too different. A Hunter and a human, two completely different species because of the Infection. It had completely changed him, not only in appearance but in DNA. It had mutated him into this completely different creature, still human looking on the outside, if you didn't look too close, but changed in thought process and behavior. He didn't like human foods any more, even ones he knew had been his favorite. He didn't understand many things that used to be so easy for him to grasp. He even looked at love from a different perspective, though not totally different.

Growling quietly, Alec pulled himself quietly to his feet, left the room, and left the cabin. He didn't go far, climbing up a tree, keeping his back to the sun so it didn't blind him. He knew Ellis and Philo would be concerned if they woke up to him gone and couldn't find him quickly. Kicking his legs in the open air, Alec listened to some of the birds who hadn't flown away because of the Infection waking up, calling to each other. It almost seemed like the Infection had never happened if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't human anymore. And that would never change. A cure couldn't reverse this, even if the world was actually making an effort to find on. Which they weren't, they were just shooting all the Infected in their path. It made Alec sick. And he knew that if he wasn't careful, his time would come before he was ready for it. Especially once he got Ellis to Austin. Knowing his luck, they wouldn't even make it that far if they were still on the border. It would take a month if not more to reach the center of the massive state. And he was running short on optimism.

In the cabin, Ellis had woken up, along with Philo. Well, Philo had been awake since dawn but had been laying with his eyes closed, thinking. Ellis had a silent panic attack when he couldn't find Alec then Philo explained that he had left the cabin, probably to go brood. "Why would he need to brood?" the hillbilly asked, confused.

"Ya honestly haven't figured it out by now? I told ya a week ago that you were missin some things about him and its makin him feel unwanted." Philo sat up, ruffling one hand through his shock of dark blonde hair. His milky yellow eye focused on Ellis with a strange intensity. "Yer just that naïve huh?"

Ellis was a bit offended by that but he didn't deny it. It was no secret that there were things he didn't understand because he was a 'simple southern boy' as many referred to him as. He didn't like it, but he couldn't really deny that he was too innocent for his age. "You seem ta know more than me Philo. Why won't ya tell me?"

Philo shook his head, twirling his tongue in the air. "Nope, if ya don't figure it out for yer-self, then Alec'll tell ya in his own time." he coughed, pushing himself to his feet with a lopsided grin. "C'mon. Let's go find 'im so he doesn't think we don't care." Ellis grumbled at that, still confused over what the Smoker was talking about. He followed Philo out of the cabin and into a thicker portion of the forest. The sun was above the trees by the time they managed to spot Alec's brown on brown form in a tree. He almost blended into the trunk with his brown shirt and black pants. "Hey frog-legs! What ya doin up there?" Philo called, grinning as Alec growled at the name.

_"Thinking. What else?"_

"Well don't be thinkin too hard. You might pop somethin." Alec growled again, but didn't make any move to come down.

_"Hey giraffe-tongue. Could I talk to you alone for a bit?"_ he snarled suddenly, looking down at them for the first time. Philo translated for Ellis who raised an eyebrow, confused again. Alec wanted to talk to Philo? That was odd. Hopefully it wouldn't end up turning into some mutated mortal combat type throw down.

"See ya back at the cabin guys." Ellis said, whacking his way back through the forest along the path they had come. When Alec was sure he was gone, he slid down from the tree, landing with a soft grunt in front of Philo, who leaned against the tree pulling out a cigarette.

"So what you wanna talk about frog-legs?"

_"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't call me that!"_ he didn't receive a reply. Philo simply lit his cigarette and took a drag of it, puffing the smoke out slowly. _"I don't think we'll make it as far as Austin."_

"Oh? Why's that?"

_"Think about it. The military's everywhere in this state. They're clearing the Infected faster than you go through a pack of cigarettes and I'm afraid that we'll be killed before we can get Ellis to Austin."_

"So the brave leaper is scared huh? Yer a pessimist, ever been told that?" Alec let out a wordless growl, turning his burning red eyes to glare the Smoker down. Philo held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, I never said ya were wrong. But that's not all that's botherin ya huh?" the Hunter looked away, staring into the brush and chewing on the inside of his mouth thoughtfully. "Lemme guess." he continued, coughing a couple times. "Yer startin to feel unwanted because Ellis is oblivious to both yer feelins and his?"

_"Pretty much. I want to get him to safety but I also don't want to lose him. Not after all we've been through together... but-"_

"Yer not sure how it'll work out?" Alec nodded, letting out a low whine. Philo sighed, coughing again and taking a drag of his cigarette, snuffing the butt out on the tree trunk he was leaned against. "I say just go for it. Don't scare the kid away, but let 'im know. He's confused by yer behavior and wants to know why yer actin so weird. I ain't gonna tell him, you gotta find a way. Teach yer-self to say those three magical words-"

_"Let's not over do it now giraffe-tongue." _Alec interrupted, turning a bit red. As the Smoker talked he had been getting more and more worked up, exaggerating his words like a Shakespearean actor would. _"Where you in theater by any chance? You seem awful... what's the right word?"_

"Ha, I get what yer sayin. Yeah, actually I was in theater."

_"You belong in the fifteen hundreds." _the Hunter growled, letting out his raspy chuckle. _"Though, I hate to say it, you have a point. A good one. Don't get a swelled head." _he warned as he noticed the flamboyant grin start to form on Philo's face. Philo put on a fake scowl, reaching with his tongue toward Alec who screeched and swatted it away. _"Oh God! Keep that thing away from me you creeper." _he snarled, putting a shrub between him and the Smoker though it wouldn't do much good. Philo laughed then coughed pulling out another cigarette.

"Let's get goin back to the cabin. I'm sure Ellis is getting worried by now." he said around his cigarette. He slung one arm over Alec's shoulders, startling the slightly shorter Hunter some. "Like I said frog-legs, find a way." he motioned in an exaggerated manner toward the cleared up sky, making Alec roll his eyes, shaking his head some. He shoved the Smoker off him, stealing his cigarette, the last one he had on him at the moment. That started a game of keep away similar to the ones Alec would play with Ellis when it came down to the hillbilly's hat. "Give that back you stupid leaper." Philo yelled, chasing Alec back through the forest toward the cabin. Ellis was sitting on one of the steps that led up to a small porch when Alec exploded into the small yard, still holding the cigarette.

Philo shot his tongue toward the Hunter but it was grabbed and unreeled as Alec continued to run. The Hunter quickly tied the tongue around a sapling growing in the yard and ran away cackling. "Damn you!" Philo yelled after him around his tongue. Ellis shook his head with a chuckle, watching as Philo tried to untie his tongue. Alec had apparently tied it tighter than the day before because he couldn't get it. "Ellis! Get a knife! It ain't coming loose." he called to the hillbilly.

_"Because I have godly tying skills." _Alec cackled from a near by pine tree.

"Bastard." Philo snapped, puffing off green smoke. The Hunter cackled again, rubbing the cigarette against the tree trunk. "Hey! That was my last one!"

_"Good. If the military doesn't kill you these will." _he flicked the butt away. _"I just did you a favor." _the Smoker let out some loud yells and coughs that translated into colorful strings of curses in several three or four languages. Alec raised an eyebrow, his red eyes dancing in the light from the sun. _"And here I thought I was well read." _he snickered.

"Well at least his weird mood's gone." Ellis commented as he came out of the cabin with a big steak knife.

"Hmph. Looks like. Cut away." Philo stood patiently, though a bit angrily, as Ellis sliced through his tongue. He reeled what was left of it into his mouth and glared up at Alec. "When it grows back yer dead." he threatened though he didn't mean it. He was glad that Alec seemed to be out of his odd mood, at least for a little while. Alec shambled down from the tree after a couple minutes, preceding to tackle Philo again, driving his face into the muddy ground. After that he took shelter behind Ellis, standing as close as he could without seeming weird. That would come later. Philo peeled his face out of the mud, glaring with his milky eye at the Hunter, who snickered at him with a 'can't get me now' look. "Ass."

_"And you're not?" _

"Never said that." Philo propped his head up on one hand, his elbow sinking into the mud. "Tonight, I'm gonna keep you up till the butt crack of dawn with our little speech lessons."

_"Nuh uh. I'm locking the door. I get the bedroom tonight."_

Ellis rolled his eyes at their bantering, though he was getting sick of only getting one end of the conversation. He had gotten used to it though and he would ask Philo to translate later if he felt like it but he really couldn't wait until Alec could talk properly instead of barely managing to growl out one word at a time. Turning, looked at Alec who stared back, a strange gleam present in his eyes. Raising an eyebrow, Ellis was about to ask what the look was for when the Hunter's head suddenly snapped toward the forest on the right side of the small yard, a growl coming from him. He grabbed Ellis's wrist, dragging him into the cabin, almost slamming the door in Philo's face. Alec shoved the couch against the door and pulled the curtains together. "What's wrong?" Ellis asked, keeping his voice low.

"Military. I heard 'em at the same time he smelled them." Philo said, pulling a curtain to the side some to peer out. "I feel like they're followin us but I doubt they are." he looked over his shoulder at Alec and Ellis. "Let's just stay quiet. They're probably lookin for a place to set up a camp."

"Then wouldn't they come in here? I mean, the cabin's in good condition and all."

Philo shrugged, stifling a cough. "Let's hope not. They'll probably go ta a place closer to town, 'cause its closer to food and such." sure enough, the small troop of maybe a dozen or so soldiers marched right past the cabin, paying it no mind. All three let out a relieved sigh when they were gone. "Thank goodness." Philo sighed, Alec making a soft noise of agreement in the back of his throat. "There may be more so we should stay in 'ere."

"Sounds good." Ellis agreed while Alec nodded. They would be able to rest up a bit faster if they just lazed around for the day. If the military was moving north, and possibly west, they wouldn't get many more opportunities to rest. Ellis could easily go up to a troop and ask for rescue but he honestly enjoyed the presence of the Infected then he did other humans. That was especially true when he compared how he was treated by Nick, Rochelle, and Coach when he was traveling with them, and how he was treated by Alec, Philo and Keelan, before the Tank was killed. The Infected treated him better. They actually listened and were willing to take their time to search the places Ellis pointed out. He had even been able to finish some Keith stories without interruption by either Infected, saying that now wasn't the time. And in all honesty, traveling with Alec and Philo was more fun. They would bicker and banter playfully and Ellis somehow always got caught in the middle of a wrestling match or having to untie Philo's tongue whenever Alec got tired of it wriggling around him during the wrestling and tied it around a tree or pole. He even tied it to a doorknob on the opposite side of a door from where Philo was standing and slammed it on the tongue once when he was in a particularly bad mood. He had learned quickly after that to never do that again when Philo held his head underwater as they passed a stream.

They lazed around the cabin for the rest of the day. Philo found some old novels and had sat himself down with one. He was on page two hundred and he had only been reading for an hour. Alec had done the same but had gotten bored after about twenty minutes and decided to pester the Smoker. Ellis sat and watched as Philo repeatedly swatted the Hunter away, amused by Alec's sudden childishness. It was good that he was getting his energy back, as was Ellis. He noticed that the Hunter and Smoker acted like brothers almost with their bickering and fighting, seeming to hate each other but having a tentative respect for the other's opinion and feelings. Philo had stopped making jabs at Alec's breed of Infected and his personality all together as much and Alec in turn had stopped with the torture of the poor Smoker's tongue. To an extent.

"Give me back my book!" Philo yelled suddenly. Alec blasted past Ellis cackling and Philo followed him, coughing some from running as Alec lead him around the cabin five times before Ellis snatched the book from Alec as he breezed by for the sixth time. He handed it to a wheezing Philo, giving Alec a stern look. He admitted that he didn't like sitting still for a long time any more than the high energy Hunter but still. "Thanks." Philo wheezed, glaring at Alec who looked away innocently, grinning widely. "I think the dog needs to be let out." Alec's head snapped toward the Smoker then, a growl rumbling in his throat.

"I think yer right." Ellis laughed. Alec gave him an 'I can't believe you're siding with him over me' look, his mouth falling open some. "C'mon Alec. Let's go for a walk." he grabbed Alec's wrist before he could protest and dragged him to the back door of the cabin since the front was still blocked off. Alec looked over his shoulder just in time to see Philo give him a thumbs up, closing his one eye in what he assumed must have been a wink if he had both eyes. By then he had been dragged outside and had no hope of backing out now. A team of horses couldn't stop Ellis once he made a decision.

_**Yay! So much better! I love writing Philo's dialogue 'cause its so much like how I talk. Texans unite! Ha ha. I'll hopefully get the next chapter up by tomorrow if not the day after. I'm slowly losing feeling in my fingers from typing so much. Review please! Special thanks to truebloodboi and SoulKeeper for their reviews and messages. They were the inspiration for this one. (hands out mini Hunters). Thanks again!**_


	6. Breathe Me

Separated

_**Ack! Sorry I didn't get it uploaded when I said I would, I actually sorta lost my muse for it 'cause I had a million other things going on from getting in touch with a friend from Dallas for the first time in months to my mother once again screwing over a good day with her bullshit. But enough of my bellyaching about my problems, hope you like this one!**_

Chapter 6- Breathe Me; _Sia_

Once Ellis had hauled Alec a good distance from the cabin, he stopped, turning to look at the Hunter with piercing blue eyes. "Alright man, what's been up with you lately? And don't try weaslin out of it just 'cause you can't talk that well." Alec gulped, not really sure how to tell Ellis why he'd been acting so weird. He gave Ellis a 'where do you want me to start' look, making him sigh. "Just tell me what's wrong." The Hunter looked off to the side, trying to gather his thoughts into some form of order while trying to figure out how to tell Ellis 'oh yeah, I've been acting creepy cause I love you and you're not picking up on it' without embarrassing himself. Glancing around the forest where they had stopped, he noticed an old fallen birch tree a few meters away. Perfect, he thought, walking over to it and crouching near it. Clicking his claws on the surface, he hid what he was scratching into the surface from Ellis until he had finished. In his chicken scratch 'handwriting' he etched 'love you' into the tree the scrambled into one that was beside him to hide his embarrassment.

Ellis moved over to the tree, looking down at the chicken scratch then turning his face up to Alec with a stunned expression. Alec didn't look down at him, keeping his red eyes focused on a bird in a pine tree opposite him, his heart crawling into his throat and his face heating up. "Alec..." he barely managed, his voice thick. "Is... is that why you stayed with me for so long?" Alec peered down at him and nodded, but he didn't come down from his perch. He really didn't expect much of a response from Ellis but he would like something to reassure him that the hillbilly didn't think him creepy now. "Come down here man." Ellis said quietly. Alec narrowed his eyes briefly but shambled down from his perch anyway. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Ellis was suddenly attached to his front, his arms wrapped around him tightly. Letting out a surprised grunt, it took a moment for the Hunter's mind to reboot. Slowly, he slid his arms around Ellis, pressing his face into his neck. He could feel Ellis's pulse, it was all over the place, and the human was tense but relaxed at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

Alec me a soft noise in the back of his throat, then croaked out "Scared." thickly.

"Of what?"

"Loss." was all Alec could manage. He hadn't wanted Ellis to run away from him, not only for his safety, but because Alec didn't want to feel that empty loneliness of being abandoned again. Ellis's arms tightened around him slightly. His pulse was calm now, which relieved Alec. He felt Ellis trying to back away and released him quickly, taking a step back himself.

"Why would you be scared of that? I wouldn't leave ya, not for that." Alec studied the ground but was forced to look back up when Ellis took his chin between his fingers and pushed his head up, blue eyes meeting red. "And, to be honest, I think I love ya too." Ellis couldn't help the smile when Alec's red eyes brightened up like he had just turned on a light behind them. Ellis wrapped him up in another tight hug, not really sure how to proceed. He felt a deep rumbling coming from Alec which grew louder until an audible purr reached the hillbilly's ears. He chuckled at that, able to feel the happiness oozing off the Hunter. He supposed that, since he was Infected, this was the first time he had really been accepted unconditionally. It was no secret that Hunters were feared, even the common Infected avoided them, and several of the special Infected seemed scared of them because of their speed, agility and ability to remain as quiet as a summer's breeze.

Alec's head shot up and his clawed hands tightened on the back of Ellis's shirt when some gunshots were heard in the distance. He growled lowly and started tugging the hillbilly back toward the cabin. They had walked about a quarter mile and Alec didn't relax until it was in sight, till tugging on Ellis's hand urgently. When they reached the back door, Alec nudged Ellis in front of him, motioning for him to stay put. The gunshots didn't sound like any military gun meaning it was probably some straggling survivors who hadn't come across a military unit yet. "Alright but be careful. Don't get shot up." Alec nodded backing away before spinning on his heel and leaping up into a tree. Ellis watch him leap from tree to tree until he was gone.

Alec let out a soft grunt as he landed in an aged spruce tree. The gunshots had stopped but he was confident that he was going in the right direction because he could smell fresh blood on the light breeze that just happened to be blowing his way. Holding onto a branch above him, he peered around the tree to hopefully spot the ones who had been shooting. Taking in a deep breath, the turned as a fresh scent blew his way, a lot closer. At the same time the screech of another Hunter split the air, turning into a yelp then a snarl reached Alec's ears. He leaped toward it, stopping in another tree when he saw a large pale skinned man brandishing a beat up shotgun like it was a club, facing down a Hunter in a black and white striped hoodie. Alec's heart skipped a beat when he saw what was behind the human. A woman clutching an infant to her chest who looked no older than two months old. It must have been born during the Infection to look that young and it was a wonder it was still alive.

His body moved before he could think about what he was about to do as the Hunter in the striped hoodie lunged again. He flung himself at the Hunter, slamming into its side and sending them both tumbling to the side in a snarling screeching knot of flashing claws and fangs. They broke apart, the striped Hunter backing up against a tree and Alec backing toward the humans, his lips pulled back in a fierce snarl. He noticed blood dripping down his arm and glanced down, seeing two deep gashes across his forearm. He hissed at the striped Hunter who snarled back, creeping to the side, one eye closed from the slash Alec had put across its forehead. Alec leaped, locking his hands around the Hunter's upper arms and driving it back, his feet digging into the muddy ground. The striped Hunter yowled, biting into the junction between Alec's neck and shoulder as hard as it could. Alec snarled and leaped back, holding one hand to his neck, keeping the other planted on the ground firmly so he could move if he really needed to. The striped Hunter let out a triumphant howl, pouncing at Alec.

Time seemed to slow down as Alec ducked under the pounce, driving the heel of his palm into the Hunter's chin, sending it flying skyward. In the same movement, he used his other hand to slice open the Hunter's stomach cleanly. It landed hard on its back, blood pouring out its mouth and its hands scrabbling at its stomach as it bled out. Alec could feel the blood from his shoulder still flowing down his shirt and under it, pressing one hand against the wound to slow the blood loss. The striped Hunter let out a gurgling hiss as it tried to turn over to leap away. Half way through the movement, it's body convulsed and it lay still, hissing for the last time.

Alec swallowed painfully, panting lightly as his neck and forearm throbbed and his vision went slightly fuzzy. He looked over at the humans, taking in the condition of the male. He was all slashed up, bending over in pain but he still held up the shotgun bravely though Alec could see him visibly shaking. Behind him, the woman had a small cut on her cheek but, other than being dirty, she looked fine. As did the infant who was strangely quiet. But infants and young children were always more aware of the condition of situations because they didn't quite have the mind of a human yet and went on instincts. It probably knew to keep quiet until the danger had passed. It looked healthy though which probably meant that the parents were sacrificing their own food and drink, and probably their safety to keep it alive.

Sucking in a deep breath, Alec staggered to his feet, stumbling and teetering some as his vision swam. Keeping one hand on his neck, he looked the man right in the eyes, narrowing his own some. He gulped, his hands trembling, and he dropped the gun which is what Alec wanted him to do. Blinking and shaking his head to clear up his eyesight, Alec took a step closer to the humans, watching as the woman tightened her grip around the infant. Working his jaw some, Alec let out some silent noises before croaking out "Follow" and staggering through the brush. The cabin wasn't that far and he was confident that he would make it before he passed out from blood loss. The blood from the wound in his neck was still freely flowing. He heard footsteps behind him which made him let out a quiet hiss of relief.

"Shit! Alec what the hell happened?" Ellis cried when he staggered out of the brush. The hillbilly ran forward as Alec teetered on his feet and fell. Ellis barely managed to catch him before he met with the leaf litter, then turned his blue eyes to the other humans that the Hunter had been leading. When his eyes landed on the infant, he almost dropped Alec. Pulling the limp Hunter up, he supported him with one arm around his waist while laying one of the Hunter's across his shoulders. "Come inside. Its safer." he said, turning around. Alec was heavier than he looked and Ellis had a tough time getting him quickly but carefully into the cabin and onto the couch. "Philo! Get some meds, we're gonna need 'em." he called to the Smoker who was in the other room.

"What happened?" Philo asked as he jogged into the room, his hands full of gauze, pain pills, and a bottle of peroxide. His milky eye went to the humans and his jaw went slack some. "You found survivors."

"Not him." the man said. "Him." he pointed at Alec who was starting to sweat some, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The wound on his neck refused to close. "He saved us from another Hunter."

"Really? Frog-legs did that?" the Smoker snorted, passing the supplies to Ellis.

"Now's not the time Philo." Ellis snapped, tearing open Alec's shirt some to get to the wound on his neck. The Smoker promptly shut up, moving quietly over to the rescued humans and asking if there was anything they needed. The man asked if they had any food, and if at all possible formula and Philo set off into the kitchen. It just so happened that there was a half empty can of powdered formula but no bottles. A family member of whoever had occupied the cabin before must have had a baby. When he came back Ellis had tightly bound up Alec's wound, an extremely worried expression marring his normally happy face. "Help me get 'im into the bedroom then we'll listen to yer stories." he turned his eyes from Alec to the humans, who nodded mutely.

Philo picked up Alec, being slightly stronger than Ellis and also a bit taller while Ellis went ahead of him and opened up the bedroom door. He pulled back the covers on the bed, allowing Philo to carefully lay the Hunter down before covering him. Philo turned his gaze to Ellis and offered him a soft smile. "I'll go get their story. You stay in 'ere and keep an eye on him." Ellis looked like he wanted to protest but nodded, dragging a chair from a near by desk over and sitting down. Philo laid a scared up hand on Ellis's shoulder gently. "He'll be fine. Remember how stubborn the damn leaper is."

"Yeah." Ellis sighed, taking off his hat and rubbing his free hand through his hair. Philo left the room silently while Ellis studied Alec's sleeping face. "I told ya to be careful idiot." he said to him, not expecting a reply seeing as the Hunter was out cold. With his shirt torn open, his shoulder and arm bandaged, and his face as white as the sheets he was laying on, Alec looked awful frail. The moon was just above the treetops when he stirred, a groan pulling from him and his face screwing up. His red eyes opened, glowing in the darkness faintly, scanning the room. When they settled on Ellis, he immediately tried to sit up. "Stay still." Ellis barked, startling the Hunter but he laid his head back on the pillow. "Don't ever scare me like that again. You hear me you stupidly brave Hunter?"

Alec gulped, not used to seeing Ellis this mad and nodded. Then he grinned. "Not... shot." he grunted out in a croaky voice. Ellis wanted to smack him but didn't because he was still visibly weak, his face pale and his hands shook lightly on top of the covers.

Leaning forward, Ellis ran a hand through Alec's dark chocolate colored hair and forced a grin. "Yeah, ya listened to that much." he whispered, his grin becoming more true when Alec smiled up at him. "Philo got their story. They're actually runnin from the military 'cause the woman, Anne, is a carrier. They wanted ta shoot her and the baby." a growl rumbled from Alec but he tilted his head some at the last part. "The baby is a carrier too. He got it from his momma." Ellis sighed, seating himself on the edge of the bed, ruffling one hand through his own hair. "I don't understand why nobody's tryin to get a cure for this goddamn Infection. Shooting ain't the answer to everything." Alec reached up with one hand, pulling Ellis's hand away from where it had tangled in his short hair. He laced their fingers together and centered his eyes on the hillbilly's face. 'We can live in peace.' he was trying to tell him. "I know. You an' Philo have proved that much. But no one will listen if we try an' tell 'em."

'Make them listen.' Alec told him through a growl and tightening his hand around Ellis's. "How. There's just me, and the three, really two, in there," he jerked his head in the direction of the den, "who know that not all Infected are evil. And Nick, Rochelle, and Coach but they left me to die so... I doubt they would do anything helpful." he shook his head, shifting some on the mattress. "I don't know what to do..." Alec let out a soft purr in the back of his throat. 'Do nothing. At least for now.' Ellis sighed for what felt like the millionth time this month and nodded lightly. "What else is there?" he murmured almost silently.

Alec growled at that, forcing himself up onto his elbows, releasing Ellis's hand. "Survive." he snarled, narrowing his eyes some, pinning Ellis with the intensity of his eyes. "Survive." he repeated, slightly more clearly. The hillbilly said nothing, nodding silently, gulping nervously.

"Well, go to sleep Alec. I'll be in the den-woah!" Alec cut him off by wrapping one arm around Ellis's stomach and yanking him down beside him. "Dare I ask?" Alec just let out a raspy chuckle, burying his nose in Ellis's hair that was in serious need of washing. He was one to talk though, covered in blood yet again as he was. Ellis squirmed around some before coming to rest on his side facing Alec, pressing one hand on the Hunter's chest, feeling his steadily strengthening heart beat as the he healed quickly. "Well, g'night." he yawned, feeling just how drained he was for the first time. Alec purred lowly, the sound lulling Ellis to sleep quickly. The Hunter remained awake out of habit for about an hour, listening as Ellis's breaths slowly turned into soft snores. He liked the feeling of the human beside him, it made him feel slightly less empty, like the hole in his heart that had been punched in him when he watched his family flee from his house when he was Infected was being healed. He felt _wanted _and _needed _again, like he had a reason to keep surviving in the hell the world had become.

At around midnight, Alec fell asleep to the sound of Ellis snoring and talking quietly in his sleep. When he woke up the next morning, the hillbilly was half way on top of him, snoring away, obviously comfortable. Growling good humordly to himself, Alec shifted in place some to get slightly more comfortable. He took note of the wound still present on the junction of his neck and shoulder. It was a wonder the other Hunter hadn't busted an artery and made him bleed out on the spot. But when he thought about it, Alec remembered that he had still been pushing pretty hard against it which probably diminished just how far the other could sink its fangs into him before Alec reacted and jumped back.

Ellis shifted some, letting out a sigh before cracking one eye open. His first thought was that it was light out, the second that he was warm, and the third was that the pillow he was laying on had a pulse. Yelping, he wrenched out of Alec's grip and fell onto the floor with a hard thud. The Hunter sat up, peering down at him to make sure he hadn't broken his neck or something before a grin spread across his scared face, twisting the still red scars there up some. "Oh shut up..." Ellis muttered, sitting up. "Yer shoulder better?" he inquired, motioning to the bandaged area. Alec rolled his shoulder, feeling the wound there pull some but it wasn't necessarily painful so he decided on a nod. "I don't believe you but oh well." Ellis shrugged, pulling himself to his feet. Alec snickered some, watching as Ellis picked up his hat. Just as he was reaching to put it on his own head, Alec launched himself up some and snatched it, sticking it behind his back and laying down on it. "Not funny, give it." Ellis held out his hand for the hat like he actually believed Alec would give it up without a fight.

He tried to dart his hand under the Hunter's back but, faster than he could comprehend, Alec grabbed it and held it away with his far hand. Ellis lunged for it, Alec pulling it away. He landed on top of the Hunter, making him grunt some at the sudden weight. He looked down, noticing his nose was about two inches from Alec's, his arm still stretched out for the hat. Alec's eyes and the huge smirk on his face said quite clearly, 'I like this position' and it made Ellis lurch backwards and off of him. The Hunter let out a hissing laugh and sat up. He placed Ellis's hat on the hillbilly's head, adjusting it with a look of utmost concentration, complete with his tongue poking from between his lips. Ellis's eyes were stuck on that even as Alec tapped on the brim of the hat to get his attention. Finally, Alec growled. "Eyes." he snorted, pointing at his eyes, making Ellis lurch and look up slightly. The Hunter smirked, swinging his legs off the bed without any more sounds from him, and pulled himself to his feet.

Ellis scrambled up to follow him as he made his way out of the bedroom and into the den. The humans were still out and Philo was sitting before the small fireplace that took up half of the wall to the right of the front door with a book in his hands, though he was obviously bored. Not even looking up, he coughed and said, "So what're we gonna do 'bout them?" keeping his voice low.

_"Eat them?" _Alec suggested, getting a glare from the Smoker and Ellis who had a good idea about what he said. _"I was kidding giraffe-tongue. Well, we obviously can't bring them to the 'safety'" _he held up his fingers making air quotes, _"of the military. I'm sure there's some larger groups of humans somewhere where we can leave them. They're obviously incapable of taking care of themselves, especially with an infant to look after."_ he paused for a moment. _"In fact, the Infection that's in its blood should kill it any time now. A baby's body isn't strong enough to handle the effects of the Infection like ours could. Then they should be ok to go on their own."_

Ellis looked at Philo for a translation. "He basically said wait fer the kid ta die then send them on their way." he stated bluntly, looking up at them for the first time.

_"I didn't mean it as harshly as you said it jackass." _Alec snapped, twitching slightly.

"Good to know yer feelin better." Philo snickered, getting a low growl from the Hunter.

"You're heartless..." Ellis said jokingly, falsely disappointed as he appraised Alec. The Hunter whined lowly, sounding very much like a dog, then his vision swam some and he was forced to sit down or fall over. "You alright."

"Fine." Alec waved him off, massaging his temples with his knuckles so he didn't cut himself up with his claws. _"Though when I die I'm finding that goddamn striped hoodie'd Hunter and ripping it to pieces again." _

"What do ya mean when ya die?" Philo asked, noticing Ellis's face go white a the mere though of losing Alec. That made him smile inwardly, but he kept any comments on that manner to himself, coughing to hide his amusement.

_"Figure of speech genius. You didn't learn much in refinery town huh?" _Philo puffed off some smoke angrily letting out some very un-Smoker-like growls. He obviously didn't like his home town being insulted even though Alec had lived there himself for a while when he was younger and knew that it was actually a nice place. Ellis rolled his eyes at their light bickering though he was concerned for Alec because the Hunter had gone white again.

Over to the side, the man of the family that Alec had brought in stirred, sitting up. He jumped violently, instinctively looking around for a gun when he saw a Smoker and a Hunter looking at him curiously. He calmed down when he saw Ellis sitting beside the Hunter though, relaxing a fraction. He peered over at his wife, obviously relieved that she and the child were still safe. Turning his eyes, which Alec noted were brown, back to the other three, he straightened up some trying to look dignified. _Must have been a businessman. _The Hunter mused, offering the man a lopsided smile. He seemed taken off guard by that because he blinked with an obviously confused expression. "Uh... I suppose I should say thank you for saving us." he said quietly, though a bit unsure. Alec nodded back with a 'not a problem' expression.

_"Yeah, I love getting slashed up and almost killed to save someone who would rather shoot me than thank me. Any day would I jump in the path of something like that." _he hissed under his breath, too low for the man to hear. Philo heard it too because he let out a cough of agreement. Ellis was the one exception to that rule for obvious reasons.

"We'll be out of your way by noon." the man continued, turning his attention to Ellis.

"Oh no you don't 'ave ta leave that soon." the hillbilly said, wanting to allow the family to rest as long as possible. "If you don't mind me asking, are the military hunting for you? And what about other carriers?"

The man sighed, folding his hands together in his lap. "They're looking for carriers yes, and there are at least two dozen that we know of that are on the run as well. They want to send them to a lab where they're trying to find a cure." his face twisted up in anger. "That means performing tests on them and their blood until they die from the amount of chemicals that were put in them or the amount of blood taken. This Infection," he shook his head some. "Its brought out the worse of the human race. The leaders of every country that haven't been Infected themselves have been scrambling to find a way to remedy it."

"Which translates into 'shoot first ask later?'" Philo coughed from his place by the fireplace. The man nodded. "That's bullshit."

With another nod, the man spoke again. "And if they get their hands on you, or you." he pointed at Alec. "Infected who have regained their right minds? You'll also be shipped away to a lab to be tested. You'll never see each other again, let alone you." he pointed at Ellis. "And if you're a carrier, then that will be your fate too."

"He ain't a carrier." Philo stated. "We both can smell it on him. He's immune." Alec nodded to that, able to scent the slight difference in the blood of the man, who was neither immune nor a carrier, and the woman, and Ellis. "What about other survivors? Where do they get sent?"

"They're either lined up against a wall and shot, or placed in an already over run refugee camp. It depends on the commander of the camp's orders and what the population of the camp is already." he sighed, tangling his hands in his short black hair. "We've become monsters. The Infected are the sane ones here, not the survivors."

_"I'm not gonna argue with him there." _Alec snorted. Philo nodded minutely and coughed a couple times. _"Translate for me here giraffe-tongue." _at the nod to go ahead, Alec asked his question. _"What would happen if a bunch of 'civilized' Infected were to get together. I have a suspicion that there's something going on here that even the military isn't aware of."_ he was thinking back to New Orleans. The three humans Ellis had been traveling with wouldn't have abandoned him just because a helicopter pilot was getting impatient with them and they could fight off any horde of brainless Infected or any dumb special that came their way. _Something_ must have driven them out and Alec had noticed in passing that the Hunter he had battled the day before had had an intelligent gleam in his eyes under the striped hood.

"I'm not sure myself. If civilized Infected, especially the stronger 'specials' like yourself were to get together, they might have it in their heads to start a rebellion against the military if not the uninfected ones. I'm good with stocks and line graphs, not war plans. But I'm not stupid." the man paused to think. "Why are you asking though? Do you really think that might happen?"

_"Stranger things have happened." _Alec growled, his eyes flickering to Ellis briefly, who had so far sat quietly. When Philo translated for him, the man nodded, his eyes glittering with anger, sadness, and disbelief. But Alec had been right when he had guessed that the man was a businessman. Score one for the Hunter.

"So what are you three going to do? Two special Infected and one human won't make it far with the way the military's crawling around this state."

"Is it just Texas or is it other states too?" Ellis asked, piping up to add his own two cents worth into the conversation.

"Its border states. Texas, California, all the ones along the Canadian border. The United States, despite the goddamn zombie apocalypse is more concerned about keeping borders secured than finding a cure. Its understandable but the President should be focusing the army on helping survivors not guarding border states." the man snorted in a disgusted manner. "I suggest, if you want to hide from them, go up to the Rocky Mountains and find a pioneer's shack or something well off the beaten path until this all dies down. I doubt a cure will be found, but if civilized Infected become more common then maybe we can live in peace." Ellis and Alec exchanged a look at that, having just been on that subject last night themselves. Hopefully, if the military didn't blow away all the Infected until the population of the world was as low as it had been in the stone ages, peace between human and Infected would be possible.

_**Yay! My fingers hurt! Wooh! Ha ha. Yeah, this touches on the reasons behind the 'shoot first' mentality behind the military a little. I'm hoping to delve into that a bit more so that it clears it up for everyone but its a lot of technical stuff that I want save for a later chapter. Review please! Its been my inspiration so far! And I'm hoping to update at least every other day but don't hold your breath too long. Monday I'm having a friend stay over and won't be able to update till Wednesday at least but I might get one chapter up by Sunday.**_


	7. Clocks

Separated

_**The chapter title is also sorta Alec's theme. Or one of several I've noticed fit him well.**_

Chapter 7- Clocks- _Coldplay_

The three rescued humans left around noon, just like the man had said. Ellis, Philo and Alec debated about whether they should get moving right away or wait another day. They eventually decided that they should try and find a working car and put as much distance as they could between them and the military. While Ellis was worried about the safety of the family of three that had left, he was also concerned about their own safety. If the military got their hands on Alec and Philo, there was no telling what would happen to them. Alec had the bright idea to wait until night and then he could sneak into a military camp and steal an armored truck. The idea was almost immediately shot down but Ellis noticed that the Hunter had a stubborn gleam in his eyes which told him he was going to do what he wanted anyway. And sure enough, that night Alec vanished.

"That stupid leaper's gonna get his ass shot." Philo snorted, puffing off smoke angrily. They both knew that Alec was in no condition to be jumping around so he would be traveling along the ground. How he was going to get into a camp was a mystery. Though they figured it out when a Hummer rolled up in front of the cabin and Alec jumped out dressed in a soldier's uniform with a visor. "You stripped a soldier?"

_"Of course I did. Do you really think I'm so stupid as to walk into the middle of a camp without some form of disguise?" _Alec snorted back. Ellis was busy drooling over the vehicle though, and luckily it had several cans filled with gas in the back so they wouldn't have to abandon it when it ran out of gas in the tank. He then turned his gaze to the Hunter. He had to admit, he looked good in the pale greenish-yellow camouflage outfit. _"There's all sorts of guns in the back too. And grenades. These guys were packing heavily." _

"Yeah no kiddin." Philo coughed. Lord knows that the entire army was now on the Hummer's trail once it had blazed out of the camp. Ellis called driver right away, Alec shouting shotgun in the human tongue an instant later. So the Smoker was stuck in the back seat. The hillbilly had a hell on wheels manner of driving which made Alec glad that he was quick with his tongue because the back seats had no seat belts. Philo was being thrown around like a rag doll as Ellis tore through the forest then out onto the cleared up highway. "Crimeny! Did ya drive like this when there were cops ta catch ya?" Philo yelped as he was tossed back and forth.

"Not really."

_"Keep in mind giraffe-tongue that we're trying to out run the military right now. Christ!" _Alec screeched as Ellis swerved to avoid a Charger in their path. He was clutching a handle bar that was above his head to keep him somewhat centered, the seat belt so tight it was almost chocking him. _"I think I'm gonna be sick." _the Hunter groaned as Ellis swerved again, his head spinning some. He was able to fight back the nauseous feeling though listening to Philo be thrown around behind him to take his mind off the wild movements of the Hummer.

Ellis blazed a trail north west, following the man's advice and heading for the Rockies. Though it was unorthodox, it meant at least some form of safety for a while and he was intent of being safe for the first time in six months. Even if it didn't last it was better than nothing. They drove through the night, Ellis not seeming tired at all, Alec and Philo to scared to go to sleep and the jarring of the car when Ellis made a turn or swerved to avoid a larger Infected in their path made it hard to relax. Philo eventually hooked his arms and tongue around Alec's seat and the Hunter was more or less hanging from the bar over his head. Ellis was having the time of his life driving through zombie hell though, that much was obvious by the huge grin and the scary gleam in his eyes. They only stopped when one of their bladders protested at the lack of relief or when they ran out of gas. There were four extra, and large, cans of gas in the back along with a box of hand grenades, two assault rifles, and a few hand guns. Alec hadn't been kidding when he said they had been packing heavy. Each can of gas could fill the tank twice so they would be able to make it a long way before they had to find a new car.

At about three the next day, Ellis's lack of sleep caught up to him and they were forced to stop as he almost drove off the road a couple times. Alec had grabbed the wheel from him and edged them over to the side of the road as Ellis's foot slipped off the gas. He then put it in park, pulled the emergency break and cut the engine, taking the keys from the hillbilly so he wouldn't try to keep going. Philo unwound his tongue from the back of Alec's chair and fell back with a sigh of relief. "Goddamn Ellis. Who taught ya to drive?"

"I did." the hillbilly answered bluntly. Alec and Philo exchanged a 'that explains it' look and chuckled to themselves.

"Well, let's get some rest then. Its not like we 'ave anything else ta do." Philo stretched out on the backseat, the seat just wide enough for his lanky form. Alec and Ellis both leaned their chairs back, the high backs shadowing the Smoker and preventing him from sitting up without knocking his head on the headrest. He was surprised when Alec fell asleep almost right away, expecting him to stay up an extra hour on watch like he normally did. Then he remembered that the Hunter was still recovering from his injuries some, still sort of weak from all the blood he had lost. Confident that they would be safe, Philo closed his milky yellow eye and let himself slip into a deep sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, Philo almost killed himself on the back of Ellis's headrest which was still hanging over him. "Ow..." he groaned, rubbing his forehead. Ellis was still out like a broken light and Alec wasn't in his seat anymore. Inching out from under the headrest, Philo looked out the blood streaked front window to see Alec perched on the side of the Hummer, scrubbing away the dried blood on the window on the driver's side. Opening his door, the Smoker slipped out, moving to the front of the Hummer. "What're you doing?"

_"I doubt you want to become a smear on the concrete because Ellis can't see any more than I do. So I'm cleaning the windshield. What does it look like I'm doing?" _the Hunter grunted, obviously putting a bit of elbow grease into removing the dried blood. They had plowed through innumerable Infected on their rampage northwest so it was only to be expected that the entire front and some of the sides were streaked with blood and guts.

"I dunno. Doin a good impression of a chimp on a tire swing with the way yer hangin I can say that much." Alec offered him only a growl as a response to his antagonism. The predawn air was crisp and cool, actually feeling like it was autumn for once. "Oh yeah. Just remembered. Did you confess yer undieing love to him on yer little walk?" extreme satisfaction coursed through him when Alec's face matched his eyes beautifully. The Hunter didn't reply, he just scrubbed a bit more viciously at the window, shifting to crouch on the hood so he could get at the middle. "Aw c'mon man. You can tell yer buddy Philo. I ain't gonna squeal ta the world."

_"Yeah, you will. And I'm sure you already know the answer so I see no need to reply." _Alec grumbled, his upper lip twitching as he held back a snarl. _"Why does it matter so much to you anyway?" _

Philo shrugged. "I dunno. I'm bored with the world and travelin with you guys 'as been the best entertainment I've had in a long while." he grinned flamboyantly when Alec rolled his eyes. "And besides, bein able ta love and feel passion while fightin yer way through hell is the best way ta spend your time. Why, if I could find me a lady-"

_"Philo. Shut up. You're going Shakespeare on me again." _Alec interrupted, giving him a weird look. It seemed the more the Smoker talked the more worked up and 'passionate' as he described it he became. It was amusing and annoying at the same time. _"I think the Infection did more to you than give you that freakish tongue of yours." _the Hunter snorted, going back to scrubbing. He was almost done, hoping to finish before Ellis woke up because the hillbilly would insist that they get going as soon as possible

"What's that supposed to mean?" Philo asked with fake hurt.

_"It means you're a retard. Among other things." _Alec shrugged, then shrieked as he felt Philo's tongue wrap around his stomach and he was yanked off the hood of the Hummer. _"Ah gross. Put me down." _he complained, struggling against the slimy appendage.

Philo snickered, tightening his tongue around Alec's stomach, making the Hunter let out a high squeak at the sudden pressure on his ability to breathe. "Naw. Tormentin ya is fun." he rasped back, grinning widely.

_"Ah! Dude, above the belt if you're gonna squeeze me to death." _Alec yelped as Philo wrapped more of his tongue around the Hunter. He kicked furiously, trying to loosen Philo's hold on him but it didn't work. If anything, the Smoker did a very good impression of a boa and tightened his grip more. The Hunter was obviously fed up with the Smoker's tormenting because he dug his claws into the tongue as hard as he could, making Philo release him with a shriek of pain. _"That's what you get." _Alec gasped, slightly out of breath. He shivered, feeling a bit dirty since Philo had been intent on wrapping the length of his body in the damn thing and had wrapped a bit too low. All of a sudden Alec decided that the half-cleaned windshield would suffice and crawled back into the Hummer, shaking Ellis awake.

Philo climbed into the Hummer behind him. "Yer no fun."

_"You're gross. Honestly, what were you planning on doing?" _Alec snarled, sticking one finger in Ellis's ear, grinning when he jumped with a yelp and smacked his head against his window. When Philo didn't answer, Alec just decided to label the incident 'refer to later' and shoved it to the back of his mind. He passed the keys to the Hummer to Ellis, crawling to the back seat then over that seat to the open trunk to retrieve some canned food for them to eat. Even though human food didn't appeal to him or to Philo much any more, he didn't have time to hunt for some fresh meat. Ellis said he would eat later when Alec offered a can to him, so the Hunter placed it in a cup holder and pried open his own.

At around two, they ran out of gas and while Philo was filling the tank, Ellis scarfed down his food, obviously more hungry than he had let on. Alec took the absence of the Smoker to think about what had gone on that morning. In all honesty it freaked him out some. Philo had been talking about getting a _lady, _not raping a Hunter who was already taken. And he really didn't peg the Smoker as someone who would try something like that. He would just have to keep an eye on him for a while. They were all a bit sexually tense since none them had seen any of that sort of action for six months, but that was going a bit far.

As soon as Philo reentered the Hummer, Alec put a halt to all thoughts on that manner. Nothing of the sexual manner would be directed toward anyone except Ellis as far as Alec was concerned. Philo would just have to jump some common on the street if he wanted relief. If he pulled anything funny with Ellis, Alec would strangle him with his own tongue. While they drove, Ellis warbled off several Keith stories to pass the time while Alec and Philo were concentrating on not bashing their heads against the windows as they swerved around Infected and cars. But they would respond by laughing or giving Ellis a weird look depending on the story he chose to tell. They got bored when they reached the plains, having been driving all day. The open nothingness had to be the most boring thing the three had ever seen in their lives. And it never seemed to end. They hadn't even really realized they had covered as much ground as they had until the Hummer blasted past a sign that said 'Amarillo.'

"Goddamn. This thing can cover a lot of miles." Ellis laughed, though they were almost out of gas and had no cans left in the back. "We're gonna have to steal another one." he continued, looking at Alec. The Hunter shrugged. They hadn't passed any military units since they had gotten past Toledo Bend which probably meant they were staying relatively close to the southern border but far enough north to catch any that the border patrol missed.

The longer they drove down the abandoned, flatness, the more antsy Alec was becoming. He didn't like wide open spaces because it made it impossible to find cover if you were being attacked even though it made it super easy to spot your enemy. Normally though, if you could see them, they could see you. Philo didn't help his tense mood any when he snaked his tongue toward Alec's face, making ghost noises. Alec screeched, promptly tying the tongue around the door handle beside him. He wasn't going to get him now. "Aw that's mean. I was kiddin." Philo whined. Alec just crossed his arms and stared out the window in front of him.

The moon was just rising when the Hummer chugged to a stop on the side of the road, out of gas. They decided to stop for the night since it was hard to see on the dark road with no streetlights lit. They were also short one flashlight, leaving them with nothing but Alec and Philo's sharp eyes to see in the dark. Alec decided that it was in his best interest to sleep on the roof since Philo had been acting weird all day. He knew the Smoker knew he only had eyes for Ellis but the tension that had been slowly building since the Infection started must have been getting to him. In all honesty, the Hunter couldn't really blame him for his strange behavior, getting close to his own breaking point. He could only imagine what it was like for Ellis, who had been traveling with a woman for a while before now.

Rolling on his side with a sigh, Alec thought about the way the military had been dealing with the Infection. He understood that the uninfected ones were scared and that survival of the human race was probably the only thing on country leaders' minds. But the shoot first mentality was starting to become a bit much. Soon there wouldn't be much of a population of human or Infected left at all if things continued the way they were. And if the Infected were becoming civilized, intelligent, then things could get better. They could learn to coexist like nothing had happened. The Infected, after all, were still human somewhere. They still had their memories of before the Infection and most still appeared somewhat human. The only real thing that had changed was their DNA which had mutated because of the Infection. Alec was getting tired of all the fighting and death, whether by his hand out of self-defense, or from the military's trigger happiness. It needed to stop soon, he knew that much.

"Alec?" Ellis's voice sounded softly behind him. Alec turned over, seeing the hillbilly standing in the door of the Hummer. "What're you doin up here?"

"Thinking." Alec hissed, tapping one claw on the metal below him.

"You and Philo have been awful quiet today. Did something happen while I was asleep?" Alec swallowed at that, not really sure how to explain what Philo had been doing to him that morning when he honestly wasn't that sure himself. He settled for a shrug, propping himself up on his elbows. A quiet breeze stirred his thick dark chocolate colored hair, blowing the refreshing scent of incoming rain his way. It was so much better then the smell of blood and sickness that was clinging to every possible surface nowadays.

Alec was mildly surprised when Ellis stepped fully out of the Hummer and closed the door, climbing his way up to the roof and sitting down at Alec's head. The vehicle was long thankfully so there was plenty of room for him. Letting out a thoughtful noise, Alec shifted to the side some, laying his head down in Ellis's lap, looking up at his face. Still innocent. Good, he needed to keep that innocence. Ellis smiled down at him, playing with a strand of the Hunter's hair absently. Alec removed his visor, laying it on his chest while ruffling a hand through his hair briefly, then folding his hands together across his stomach. He watched Ellis as he looked around, taking in the bleak surrounding with mild boredom. "Do ya really think peace is possible?" he asked suddenly. That made Alec's heart thud painfully in his chest.

"Maybe." he growled, watching as the stars were slowly blotted out by the rolling clouds.

"I hope it is. I'm gettin sick of all this death." Ellis's fingers slowly traveled from Alec's hair down to the side of his face, tracing part of one of the scars that made all his expressions seem threatening just from their presence, even though normally the intent was the complete opposite. "Maybe life can go to back ta some form of normal then." Alec let out a grunt of agreement, closing his glowing red eyes as Ellis rubbed his jawbone absently. He could feel the hillbilly's pulse through the tips of his fingers, the blood pumping through him a sign of life in the bleak, depressing wasteland they were in now. He sucked in a silent breath as his insides twisted up at not only the feel of Ellis's fingers on his jaw but the thought of peace. Life in a war zone had taken a tole on all of them in more ways than one. Alec had gained more scars than a warlord from the stone ages had ever had from it, and Philo had lost an eye. They had all been abandoned whether by family or supposed friends and that had dealt some damage to their already crumbling world. The one that had formed out of the wreckage was third world in every way. War, death, famine, sickness. And nothing could ever be the same again.

That made Alec want to scream but he kept his thoughts and his raging emotions to himself, not wanting to make Ellis worry about his sanity. Instead he shifted onto his side, keeping his head in the hillbilly's lap, and stared out at the open wasteland. The grass was browning as the season grew colder, there were no trees for miles that could be seen and the ones that did stab up out of he ground were mere masses of sharp sad looking, windblown twigs. Clicking his claws on the roof of the Hummer, Alec worked his jaw thoughtfully, wondering what they would do if they ever reached the mountains. They had made it just past Amarillo but would still have to go through part of Oklahoma and then up through Colorado to be able to reach them. By the time they got that far, if they couldn't find a decent vehicle and extra gas for it, it would be winter and snowing up in the mountains. They would freeze if they didn't find any clothes that would suit the season. Right now they were all in regular short sleeved shirts and loose pants. Not exactly winter worthy. The one who was probably best off was Alec because the uniform he had stripped off of a soldier so he could steal the Hummer was made of wool and cotton.

The Hunter must have dozed off because when he woke up, the sun was up though hidden behind storm clouds and Ellis had moved his head from his lap and laid down beside him. He human had his face pressed into Alec's neck, as close as he could get to stay warm since a cold breeze was blowing. It was going to start raining soon. They would have to get into the Hummer or risk getting drenched but Alec couldn't bring himself to move. The closeness of Ellis was comforting, despite the cold air. Purring softly, Alec's eyes flickered over the now lit up terrain. It wasn't quite as bleak as it looked at night but it was still boring. The wind was blowing toward him so he would be able to smell any enemy approach from that direction. The wind also brought the faint sound of a stream or brook somewhere in the field before them. Maybe that would lead them somewhere. Alec considered that.

The grass was tall, tall enough to hide Philo who was the tallest of the group. But that also meant that it would hide everything else except a Tank. But it was better than wandering down the open highway where anything could spot them. The good thing was that they, or at least Ellis, would be packing weapons now. Peeling himself away from Ellis, Alec grabbed his visor and hopped down from the roof while putting it on. Peering into the cab, he was relieved to see that Philo was still asleep as he opened the back up. Grabbing the two assault rifles, he slid a couple clips of ammo into each pocket in the uniform he wore, so a lot of ammo, and also pocketed a couple hand grenades. _"Hey, giraffe-tongue. Wake up." _he barked into the cab, rolling his eyes when Philo let out a cough of protest but didn't wake up. Hopping into the back of the Hummer, Alec crawled forward and peered over the back of the seat. _"Wake up or I cut off your damn freaky tongue."_ he snarled, watching with faint amusement as the Smoker snapped open his milky yellow eye.

"Don't you dare." he coughed, sitting up carefully so he didn't meet the back of a seat again. "What time is it?" he slurred, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand, his tongue twirling absently in the air.

_"Just after dawn I think. Its gonna rain soon and we need to find something more sturdy than a truck to shelter." _with that he hopped out of the Hummer and climbed back up to the roof to wake Ellis up. Once he had helped the hillbilly climb groggily down from the roof, he passed him the assault rifles, one going on his back, the other being clutched securely in his hands. Alec showed him that he had most of the ammo and a couple hand grenades on him and motioned for him to take a couple clips himself. Ellis did so gratefully, eager to get going. Philo filled up a small rucksack that was behind the box of hand grenades with the remaining food, slinging it on his back and looking at the other two. They had to get moving now or risk getting rained on before they happened to pass a farm house or something. They all just prayed they weren't on a flood plain.

_**Ahaha! I said Sunday but what now (wazzah to you truebloodboi! Gurhur) Yeah, this one isn't as good but it does cover a few more things with slightly more detail. And something interesting will happen between Alec and Philo soon, but don't worry it won't destroy anything. Review please! Its my inspiration. Though this chapter is kinda rushed and crappy I needed a time waster. Summer vacation as an only child sucks sometimes. **_


	8. This Love, This Hate

Separated

Chapter 8- This Love, This Hate; _Hollywood Undead_

"Hunter!" _Goddamn it..._ Alec snarled to himself, swinging himself down from the tree he was in to crouch in a shrub. _So much for elk meat for dinner._ He grunted disapprovingly as some survivors tromped past. Ellis, Philo and himself had managed to reach Colorado in the space of two days thanks to working cars they had found on the side of the highway. It seemed like the population of Infected and survivors in the mountains just about balanced each other, but the humans were as trigger happy as ever. The fact that Alec had found a new hoodie didn't help him hide from the survivors the fact that he was a Hunter. Poking his head out from under the shrub, Alec made sure the humans were gone before crawling out, giving himself a shake. Sniffing the air he followed the wounded elk that they had scared off he had previously been hunting while snarling under his breath.

He was just about to pounce on the miserable creature to finish it off when he was interrupted again. "Hey frog-legs!"

_"Aw c'mon!" _he complained as the elk limped away quickly. _"Aren't you supposed to be at the cabin?" _he snarled down at the Smoker, who was grinning up at him, his long tongue holding a cigarette. They had been in Colorado for about two weeks, having found a sturdy cabin with a gas heater that would last them through the winter. Despite the amount of down time they had had, all three had been slowly getting more irritable thanks to lack of relief in another sense. Alec _needed _sexual relief more than he could stand sometimes but he was a bit scared to jump Ellis, worried that he would hurt him with his claws and fangs and greater strength. He could feel the monster that his Hunter mind was banging on the walls he had thrown up when he had made the decision to help the human instead of eating him like he originally wanted to do. He wouldn't be able to ward himself off for much longer if things continued the way they were.

Shaking his head with a snort to clear his thoughts, he focused on Philo when he started talking. "I got bored."

_"You bore easily."_

"Yup. Anyway, come down 'ere so I can have a normal conversation with ya."

_"You scared away our dinner you know. You're going to have to make up for that." _Alec grunted, sliding down from his perch to stand in front of Philo. He noticed a weird look in the Smoker's eyes that seemed familiar but he couldn't place it.

Philo turned his head in the general direction the elk had ran off to and shrugged. "Don't really care much for elk anyway."

_"Food is food nimrod. And we're running sadly low on it as of late." _the Hunter narrowed his red eyes at Philo, trying not to take his nonchalantness personally. He put in good time and energy to get them fresh meat and the fact that the Smoker didn't seem to care about that right now pissed him off. _"What do you want anyway?" _he growled, almost fearing the answer as the gleam in Philo's eye became more familiar. Suddenly Alec was pinned against a tree with the Smoker a couple inches from his face. _"What're you-get off me!"_ he snarled, squirming in the Smoker's amazingly strong hold.

"You want this as much as I do."

It took a moment for Alec to grasp what he was saying, which made him thrash even more. _"Yeah but not from __you__! Get off me Philo before I give you some wounds to think about!" _Philo ignored him though. Alec noticed his tongue snaking down and screeched, trying to kick the Smoker away but Philo was leaning against him close enough to pin his legs to the extent to where all he could do was move them a couple inches. He stiffened up when he felt the tongue slide under his jeans, gritting his teeth together in a vicious snarl though his stomach was a tight knot of nervous energy. He needed the relief but the Smoker was the last person he wanted to get it from. _"Goddamn it get off me-ah!"_ he yelped when the Smoker's tongue wrapped around his member, tightening and stroking up and down some. He inhaled sharply, trying his best to keep his expression threatening though it obviously wasn't fooling Philo. _"Get off." _his protests were even becoming halfhearted as he got more worked up.

The Smoker's tongue tightened some more, making Alec's mouth open in a silent moan. Then the Hunter realized that the tongue seemed to be sliding some, then he let out a shriek as it slid inside him. While he felt violated, his body didn't reject it while his mind screamed in protest. He wanted nothing more than to shove the Smoker off him and rip his head off but he was pinned and could barely move. Also his entire body had stiffened up even though his insides felt like jelly. Philo continued his ministrations, slowly sliding more of his tongue inside Alec, watching as all coherency left his eyes. He could feel himself growing hard at the noises that were coming from Alec's throat. He normally didn't swing that way, but he was to the point to where anything went. They all needed this and he felt bad that Ellis was oblivious to the thoughts of the Hunter, not even noticing the way Alec would stare after him whenever he walked around or left a room.

Alec groaned lowly as Philo stroked him while poking around inside in time with his ministrations. He could see some form of stubborn rebellion still lingering in his eyes but Alec was obviously disinclined to try and get the Smoker off him now. Forcing his tongue deeper, Philo grinned as Alec moaned loudly as he prodded the Hunter's prostrate. His red eyes were clouding over and Philo could hear the bark of the tree behind him cracking as he dug his claws into it to keep himself upright. Alec suddenly stiffened up, clenching his teeth together, a low moan dragging from him. He then went almost completely limp.

Philo slowly retracted his tongue, tasting the Hunter's seed. He didn't last long but neither of them had had actual sex for a long time so it wasn't a surprise. The Smoker was now painfully hard but Alec had slid to the forest floor, a stunned but furious gleam entering his previous relieved eyes. "Ya can repay me later."

_"Damn it Philo... why did you-"_

"'Cause you needed it. You're worse off than me an' Ellis and I could see ya gettin close to yer breakin point." Philo back up a couple steps when Alec pulled himself to his feet, his knees shaking. "An' don't worry, I ain't gonna tell Ellis."

_"I'm not worried about that you creeper. If you ever even think of trying __anything__ like that on him, I swear I'll rip you to pieces." _the Hunter snarled, the air around them vibrating from the low growl that vibrated from the Hunter. He was pissed off now, probably feeling violated but Philo could see that he was obviously more relaxed. Whereas Philo was the exact opposite. Without another word, he turned with a cough and walked off into the brush, back in the general direction of the cabin, intent on relieving himself as well. Alec glared after him, feeling dirty after having the Smoker's tongue down his pants and inside him but the knot his stomach had formed was gone. He would get around to being pissed off with him later, right now he had an elk to catch. Shaking himself, Alec crawled up into the tree, scenting around the smell of one-sided sex to find the elk's trail.

When he dragged it back to the cabin, his boxers and pants had stiffened up between his legs. He needed new pants now. Boxers he could go without for a while, but he really didn't like the feel of the stiffened material as it scraped against his legs. He opened the door, noticing Philo sitting calmly in a recliner with a book like always. In the back of the cabin, he could hear water running, which told him that Ellis was in the shower. He glared at Philo as he passed him going into the kitchen to get a couple knives to skin and butcher the elk. The process was long and uncomfortable with the state of his pants but he got through it, placing the cut up pieces in a couple bins that Ellis had found in an old shed and cleaned out when they had arrived. He shoved them into the gas powered freezer for later on, taking one haunch inside to be cut up and cooked a bit more. _"I swear if you did anything to him-" _he began, glaring at Philo, who had taken up residence in the kitchen temporarily.

"Don't worry frog-legs. I wouldn't touch 'im." the Smoker cut him off, nodding his head toward the living room where Ellis was sprawled out on the couch obviously bored. Alec's gaze flickered between the two and he settled for a growl. "Its my turn to cook tonight. Shoo." he shepherded the Hunter out of the kitchen, making sure not to get too close to him. Everything in the house ran off of gas so they had heat, running water, a working stove, freezer and fridge. The only real blessing they could get was a working television because you could only read and sit around so long before you got terminally bored.

While Alec was mad at Philo for violating and basically raping him, he was also strangely grateful. He could feel that the tension that had slowly built up in him over the past months had almost vanished but that didn't banish the thought that Philo had used his _tongue_. Shivering as he sat down, Alec grabbed a random book from a tall bookshelf to his right and opened it, staring down at the pages without really reading what was on them. His mind was whirling. And now that his thoughts weren't centered on the mantra of 'don't jump Ellis' he could really ponder the recent events. The military was nonexistent in this region, safe just as the man from a couple weeks ago had said, but the survivors were common and the Infected even more so. They had put some thick plywood up on the windows, cutting small squares out of the center so they could see what going on outside but not to where any curious Infected could break the windows. Philo had also shown some handiness with reinforcing the front and back doors. There was no way any brain dead Infected were getting in now.

That made him think that the Smoker only wanted to help them in any way he could, seeing the two as family. But Alec realized that he never really seemed to get any help with anything. Whenever offered, he would shrug it off, saying he was fine on his own. Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Alec cast a quick glance to the kitchen, seeing Philo's back as he cut up the elk haunch. He wanted to repay him for the relief he had received but then he would feel like he was betraying Ellis. Letting out a low growl as his head throbbed, Alec closed the book with a snap and stood up. "Where ya goin Alec?" Ellis called as he walked toward the front door.

"Out." he said back, keeping his voice even though it still sounded like a croak in his ears. He closed the door behind him, leaning against it and sighing. The conflicting thoughts and emotions that were storming through him now here giving him a headache. His father had always told him that he should never leave any debt unpaid but... he really couldn't think of a way to repay this one without being a cheating asshole. _"First though I need new pants." _he growled out loud to himself, starting on the half a mile trek toward the nearest town. It was starting to get dark but he could see at night just as well as he could during the day so he was confident he wouldn't get lost. And if he did, he would follow his nose.

Alec was amazed when he saw that the clothing section of the Wal-Mart in the town was still more or less full. Grabbing a cart, he towed it toward the clothes and started filling it up with ones that looked like they would fit him, Ellis or Philo. While he was there he grabbed a pair of black jeans that were identical to the ones he had on now minus some tears and holes and yanked them on once he had disposed of his old ones as well as his boxers. Throwing some thick jackets and sweaters into the cart as well, Alec tromped his way to the front of the store. He was forced to shove the cart behind a checkout counter and dive under it though when the survivors who had scared off his elk earlier walked in. "Maybe there's some food left in here that hasn't rotted yet." said one, a male with a deep, rich voice. Alec didn't move until they had passed the check out section of the store and into the grocery section. The only thing they would find were canned goods, most without pop tops so they had no way of opening them without a sharp knife.

Quickly and quietly, Alec exited the store with the cart full of clothes and started on the long walk back to the cabin. It was longer than the way there because he had to stop and yank and heave the cart over a root or log. He also had to swat away a few curious commons who had noticed the lingering scent of human on him from being around Ellis. When he reached the cabin, he opened the door calling. _"I come bearing gifts." _which Philo translated from the living room. Ellis was the first one into the entry way was Alec closed and locked the door behind him.

"Wow man, it looks like you have an entire store shoved in here." the hillbilly commented, getting a wide grin from Alec. The Hunter noticed that Philo was giving him a strange look, obviously able to smell the clean pants. Alec scowled at him, not sure why it should matter, but shoved all thoughts on that subject to the back of his mind for later reference. Right now he was focusing on finding which clothes would fit who best. Seeing as they were all around the same height, only a couple inches difference between Ellis and Alec, then Alec and Philo. They eventually got it divided with some form of correctness.

They then all went to their respective bedrooms. There were two, Philo got one, Alec and Ellis shared the other. Originally Alec had been sleeping on the couch in the large den, but Ellis had literally dragged Alec into the bedroom with him the first night. The Hunter had been dragged half way there before he woke up and freaked out because all he saw was the ceiling moving as he was towed down the hall by the hillbilly. He had effectively woken up Philo who wasn't too happy with him and had used a dirty sock to shut him up when they were arguing afterwords. Alec stayed awake for a long time just like always even though he knew there was no danger to worry about. His mind was buzzing with what had happened earlier that day and he couldn't seem to quiet his mind enough to go to sleep for another hour or more. Eventually the sound of Ellis's soft snores lulled him to sleep.

He woke up before dawn after a restless sleep. Ellis was laying halfway on top of him like he normally was. He could hear Philo coughing in his sleep just like always. But nothing seemed the same for some reason. Then he heard something coming from the living room. Carefully sliding out from under Ellis, he crept down the hall and peered around the corner into the living room. The same two survivors from the day before had broken into the house and were going through the fridge. They already had the left over elk haunch from last night's dinner laid out on the counter ready to be taken. Growling, Alec darted forward, crouching behind the couch, out of sight of them but still able to track them by scent. "Wait." one said. "Did you hear that?"

"No. C'mon. This stuff is fresh, let's just get out of here." the other snapped. Alec snarled loud enough to be heard without mistake. They had to exit the kitchen, go through the living room and down a short hall to get to the front door. And with how dark it was, they would have to take their time going through the rooms or they would trip over a piece of furniture. That gave Alec just enough time to dart toward the small hall and block the door with a china cabinet that sat beside it and get out of the way. Which is exactly what he did. "What. The hell." said the one with the deep voice.

"What's going on here?" the other asked, his voice shaking. It seemed familiar to Alec but right now he was intent on protecting Ellis and Philo as well as their food. He growled again, keeping out of sight as the shaking one turned on a flashlight, waving it around the room nervously. Now that the light was on, Alec could see his face. His heart thudded painfully in his chest and rage bubbled in his veins. It was his brother, or one of three. And he could see the outline of the other man's face. His father. What were the goddamn chances?

"Traitors." he hissed in the human tongue, watching with sick satisfaction as the two jumped at the sudden vocalization. They had abandoned him, left him to die when he had showed signs of being Infected. He would never forgive them. "Bastards." he snarled, a bit louder, becoming more and more furious as they swept the flashlight's beam around the room, looking for the source of the voice.

"That sounds like... Alec?" his brother stammered out, shaking more violently. "But... we left him back in Florida."

"It doesn't matter Joshua." his father hissed quietly. "Lets just get out of here. Alec's dead, I made sure of it." Alec placed his hand over the small scar just to the right of his heart. His father had shot him to make sure he didn't become a monster like his mother had, which was how he became Infected. He had failed obviously.

"You... you what?" Joshua gasped, obviously unaware of what their father had done. Alec snarled, unable to keep it low enough to stay hidden and he flashlight's beam snapped to the couch where he was hidden. The beam pierced his eye sharply, making him yell in pain at the sudden light and tumble backwards. He heard Philo cough loudly in the back room and, while scrambling for a new hiding place, winced as the flashlight traveled toward the hall entrance. "Great dad. Now not only has my baby brother turned into a monster but we have to avoid a Smoker too?" Joshua groaned, glaring at his father. Alec, still hidden in the darkness thanks to his dark hoodie and black pants, remained crouched by the door of the hall, pulling it closed so that they wouldn't be encouraged to go exploring. Hopefully it would also keep Ellis and Philo from waking up.

"Come on Joshua. Let's just go. Alec is dead." his father snapped, getting impatient as his son lingered in the room. "Help me move this." as soon as he placed a hand on the cabinet, Alec jumped on him, knocking him back then darting into the dark living room again. With the curtains drawn, the faint predawn light couldn't get into the room, the only light the single flashlight since the electricity was nonexistent. Joshua turned the light to try and follow the Hunter as he scrambled behind the couch again but lost him in the darkness. Even with his hood down, Alec blended in because his hair was such a dark brown. Joshua crept forward, the hand with the flashlight shaking. Alec noticed the light glint off a pistol in his other hand and growled reflexively. If his brother wanted to be like his father then fine, he could shoot at him. He would regret it though. He had no love for his family any more. Three brothers and his father, all had left him behind with the bodies of his mother and sister. "Joshua, what are you doing?" his father demanded. He was ignored though.

Joshua was the second youngest, Alec being the youngest out of the brothers. His sister, Rachael, had been fifteen when his father was forced to shoot her when she had attacked him when she came home from school. The he shot Alec's mother when she attacked Alec. He had ordered the remaining three boys to pack up, all of the living at home still because they were home tutored. His father was filthy rich, he could do stuff like that. Once he had gotten out of the military he had found a good job in cancer research and had been paid two million in his first year. He kept his wife and children sheltered but what he didn't know was that Max, the oldest of the five children, had taken it upon himself to take his brothers and sister out into the real world whenever he wasn't home. Which was often. So Alec was no stranger to what really went on as compared to the fantasy world his father had built for them, and that his sister believed. To her, there was no other way of life. Where as Alec along with Max and Joshua both had made good friends in the crack alley portions of town. Patrick, the second oldest, had wanted nothing to do with that part of town, deciding to stick to his cheer captain girlfriend who was obviously cheating on him but hey, forget that, she was good for a good screw anyway. Or at least that's what Patrick always said.

Apparently, kindhearted Joshua was the only one to survive out of the three that had remained human. Stoic, take-no-bullshit Alec had turned into a Hunter. He was also called fag-head because he was the one who was sort of openly gay out of the four brothers even though he knew Max was the same way. He thought it immature and didn't let it bother him. If his brothers and sister and parents all wanted to be assholes about his choices, so be it. He didn't care.

Turning his attention from his thoughts to Joshua, who was getting steadily closer, Alec hissed and backed up, ducking to the opposite end of the couch from his brother so he wouldn't be spotted. He would be shot on sight, if not by Joshua, then by his father who also had a pistol. "Joshua get back here. That's not Alec. He's _dead._" his father ordered, making Joshua flinch. He was a controlling man but apparently six months of surviving had given Joshua a backbone.

"No dad. I know its him." he stopped and turned to his father. "I can't believe you would shoot your own son. And daughter. And wife! You're heartless." that apparently caught the other off guard because he didn't say anything else as Joshua turned back around, sweeping the flashlight over the room. It once again caught Alec in the face, making him snarl, backing up and out of sight. "There you are." Joshua muttered under his breath as Alec scrambled back, taking shelter behind the recliner. "C'mon Alec. I'm not like Dad. Ya know you can trust me." Alec only offered him a threatening growl as a response. He wanted nothing to do with them.

"Joshua, let's go. Even if it _is_ Alec, he's just a mindless monster like all the others. Just another target to shoot at." that was where Alec snapped. He launched himself to the top of the recliner then over Joshua's head with a screech, slamming into the man he once called his father. He didn't shred him like he wanted to, he just proceeded to punch his nose into his skull with a fist before he felt something yank his hood and he was sent sprawling on his back in the doorway of the den and the entryway. Joshua stood between him and their father with his pistol pointed at him. "See." his father gasped, holding his broken nose. "Mindless."

"Bastard!" Alec snarled, shying away from the bright light of the flashlight. He backed up, intent on going to hide until he could regroup. They were still trapped in the cabin and he had no intention of letting them out. He would have to finish this quickly thought because Philo always rose with the sun and he didn't want his friend shot. No matter how creepy he had acted yesterday. He didn't want to kill his brother, but he defiantly wanted to make his father suffer. He had shot Alec. And Alec had seen in his eyes that he had missed his heart on purpose. Alec had always been the least favorite of the four brothers. Hell, he even like his sister more, and she had been an accident.

Turning his blazing red eyes to Joshua, he saw that he was shaking, his blue eyes filled with conviction. Should he shoot his baby brother or shouldn't he? 'Baby' brother taken lightly, there was only a year's difference between them. "Alec..." he whispered in a shaking voice. "Don't make me have shoot you. You know I can't do it." Alec snarled, backing up but the flashlight followed him. Now that he was found, he wasn't going to be allowed to slink into the darkness again. His head twitched to the side some when he heard Philo's coughs just on the other side of the door.

_"Stay back there Philo!" _he screeched, not turning his head toward the door. He kept his eyes on the pistol in Joshua's hand. But while his attention was focused on the Smoker and his brother simultaneously, he didn't notice his father stand up straighter behind Joshua and pull out his pistol until a bullet connected with his shoulder. He yowled in agony, staggering back as Joshua shot an astonished look at his father. Alec snarled, darting forward, grabbing the pistol from Joshua's hand and shoving his brother to one side. Not losing any speed, he swung the hand that now held the pistol out, bashing the butt into the side of his father's head as hard as he could, watching with sick satisfaction as the man fell over and lay still. _"And stay down. Its the least you owe me." _he huffed, bringing one hand up to feel his shoulder. The bullet had gone all the way through thankfully so it would heal faster than it would if he had to dig the bullet out.

Looking down at the pistol thoughtfully, he turned to Joshua, who flinched back, attempting to look threatening while he shook, holding the flashlight up like it was actually a deadly weapon. Alec couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at that. He shook his faint amusement off quickly though and narrowed his eyes into a glare. "A-Alec... please. Don't kill me." his brother whispered, gulping. He looked like he was about to pass out if how pale he had gone and the amount of pure fear that shone in his eyes was any indication. Now that he didn't have a real weapon, he looked especially weak even though he had always won every wrestling match they had had before the Infection. And he had a red belt in karate. Alec had only gotten up to green before he got bored with it and dropped out. Alec looked down at the gun in his hand and sighed. Tossing the gun to one side, he turned and pulled the cabinet away from the door, opening it. Standing to one side, he nodded his head toward the outside and let out a soft growl. Joshua hesitated but marched bravely forward, stepping over the body of his father gingerly. "I-I'm sorry. For leaving you. You're still my brother Alec, no matter what you've become. You seem different from the other Hunters, why is that?"

Alec shrugged, knowing he couldn't talk well enough to answer even if he wanted to. He narrowed his eyes threateningly, making Joshua jump and scurry away without another word. Alec glared down at the body of his father. Reaching down with one arm, he grabbed the man's wrist, hauling the corpse outside. Spinning around a couple times, he let it fly into the forest. _Let him rot._ He snarled to himself as he heard a satisfying thump far down the mountain the cabin was situated on. Looking up at the lightening sky, Alec let out a deep sigh. Hopefully, Joshua would die a quick death. Alec really had no reason to dislike him and somewhat regretted sending him away but he also saw no reason to keep him near him. As far as he was concerned, even if Max and Patrick were still alive, he had no family anymore.

_**Yeah not much Ellis in this one but the point behind this chapter, or at least the end, was to reveal quite a bit more about Alec's past and family. Max and Patrick will be mentioned again, and there will be a steamy moment between Ellis and Alec if not next chapter then the one after. And if you're wondering about Philo, he will also be covered soon. Review, I'm loving the attention this story's getting, as selfish as that sounds. But I've never gotten feedback like what I've been getting on this one before.**_


	9. Forseen

Separated

_**Uh, I'm not really supposed to be on the computer 'cause of the bands of rain coming off of hurricane Alex (which ironically enough is on of my many nicknames)but I got a really nice review from someone called jacoba and it inspired me. All I can say is, if I get electrocuted, I will find you and you will get the hospital bill/funeral fee. And no this one will not have the long awaited scene between Alec and Ellis but I promise you guys that it will be next one. And the beginning of the song for the chapter title is what I always imagine whenever a Hunter is leaping around.**_

Chapter 9- Forseen; _God Module_

Ellis really wasn't supposed to be walking around by himself. Or at least, that what Alec and Philo both insisted on. But he had a gun, plenty of ammo and a pipe bomb for the hell of it. As far as he was concerned, he couldn't be safer if the Hunter or Smoker were with him. He just really needed to get out of the cabin. Alone. Alec and Philo had been quarreling more often lately and he figured that they were getting cabin fever just as much as he was. He had also noticed that Alec had been looking at him like he was something to eat lately. Really he couldn't figure out why, but if the tension that had built up in all three of them since the Infection hit was any indication, he had a good idea.

Shrugging off all thoughts on that manner, Ellis focused on making his way down the embankment from the cabin. He almost tripped over the body of a large dark haired man. He guy's nose was bashed in and he had a bloody bruise on his left temple. It also looked like he had been thrown down the hill, his limbs being all twisted up in many various ways. Looking over his shoulder back toward the cabin, Ellis realized that the man was in direct line with it. He would have to ask Alec or Philo about it later. The guy had also obviously been down here for a couple days because he was starting to rot.

Deciding to just wander through the forest for a while, Ellis made note of the direction he was going and started walking. He knew that if he got lost, and didn't manage to find his way back before nightfall, Alec would track him down and give him an earful. The Hunter was probably the most protective person Ellis had ever met and for that he was thankful because normally whenever Alec was in protective mode, Ellis didn't have a weapon. When he did have one, the Hunter knew he could take care of himself but still hovered close by. Luckily he hadn't had much reason to hover lately because the three of them had made it their mission to clear a large area around the cabin so they wouldn't have to worry about break ins at night. Apparently though some survivors had broken in a few days ago. The only reason Ellis knew this was because Alec had a mysterious hole in one shoulder on his hoodie. _Wonder if that corpse was one of them..._ the hillbilly wondered. No, Alec wouldn't do that, not to a survivor. Would he? The Hunter was still a mystery to him in many ways.

Ellis stopped when he heard some rustling near by. Taking his gun off his back, he held it close to him and crept through the brush toward it. If it was an Infected, he may as well shoot it. If it wasn't he would take them back to the cabin. Then he noticed that the rustling was behind him and froze. _Shit._ Was Ellis's only thought before he was plowed into the ground, his gun flying out of his hands. Just as the weight landed on him, it was gone. Two, almost harmonized screeches came from down the hill as he scrambled to his feet. Grabbing his gun, Ellis ran after the noise, knowing that one of them was Alec. It seemed only right that the over protective Hunter had been following him.

Climbing on a log, he looked down to see a large Hunter pinning Alec. It was trying to slash at him but Alec was warding it off. Alec drew back one fist and slammed it into the other Hunter's face, stunning it enough for him to throw it off. Scrambling into a crouch, Alec hissed at the other as it regained its equilibrium, spinning toward the other with a snarl. Ellis aimed at the other in case Alec couldn't handle it himself seeing as it was actually bigger than him. Most Hunters were short in stature but apparently these two were an exception. The other paced around and while it was somewhat still, Ellis looked at it closer. Under its torn up hood, it looked a lot like Alec. Dark brown hair and red eyes though this one's face was slightly longer.

The two Infected leaped at the same time, their bodies slamming together and they rolled in a mass of flashing fangs and claws before breaking apart. Alec backed toward Ellis, intent on protecting him as the other turned its blazing red eyes toward the human. The Hunter snarled at the other, seeming oddly furious for it to just be rogue. The other hissed back, its claws gouging into the leaf litter under its palms. Then it let out a laughing noise, a malicious smile twisting its lips up, revealing bloodstained fangs. Alec screeched at whatever it had said and lunged. The other Hunter dodged nimbly to the side now that its initial panic from Alec's first attack was gone. As Alec flew by it, it slashed his upper arm. The other Hunter landed with a grunt, spinning on the spot and leaping again, plowing the other into a tree. Its head smacked into it with a crack and it lay stunned. Alec leaped off it with a snarl, seeming to puff himself up to seem bigger; very much like a territorial animal. He backed toward Ellis, growling as the other sat up, pulling itself into a submissive crouch. Alec had won the fight, that much was obvious, and the other was now at his mercy. Apparently, Alec was very aware of that because he smirked, looking down at his claws in thought.

"Alec, c'mon man, let 'im go." Ellis piped up suddenly, making both jump. Alec turned toward him with a disapproving scowl on his face but didn't make any move to jump on the other Hunter to finish it off. He growled at it, making it scramble away like a kicked dog. "Thanks." Ellis sighed, sliding down from his log to stand beside the Hunter. The other just snorted, glaring after the Hunter who had run off. He was obviously unaware of the two gashed in his upper arm or the cut above his left eye. In fact he seemed oddly mad. Ellis caught on fast, sitting on the leaf litter next to Alec's crouched form. "You knew 'im huh?"

The Hunter grunted an affirmative. "Brother." he snarled.

Ellis's eyes widened. That explained why they were so similar in looks. He placed one hand on Alec's shoulder, looking at him though the Hunter wouldn't return his gaze. "Your family abandoned you huh?" he got a nod to that, the furious gleam in Alec's eyes flaring. "Aw, I'm sorry. But, that's in the past. Promise me that if you run into 'im again you won't kill him." Alec gave him a skeptical look, probably thinking Ellis had gone insane. "Promise me Alec or I'm draggin you back to the cabin and tying you up." that got a raised eyebrow that made Ellis blush, understanding the turn the Hunter's thought process. "Oh fer God's sake. You're horrible."

Alec snickered at that, seeming to relax a little. He looked back in the direction his supposed brother had gone and sighed. "Fine." he grunted suddenly, glancing back at Ellis. "Promise." he didn't seem happy about it but Ellis trusted his word. He was in his hoodie but the hood was down and he was wearing the military visor from a few weeks ago. It was too sticky out, despite the cold, to wear a hood up. The Hunter squinted up at the sky, noticing some storm clouds starting to roll by past the treetops. His upper lip twitched some in a half snarl and he stood up. He didn't like the rain any more than Ellis did. Offering his hand to the hillbilly, Alec glanced around as Ellis pulled himself up, using the Hunter as leverage.

"Wanna go back?" Ellis asked. Alec nodded, seeming relieved. Yep, it was now proven that Ellis shouldn't wander by himself and he would probably not be allowed near the front or back door without one or the other Infected he lived with close at hand. Especially with another Hunter roaming around. He would probably follow their scents and try and get into the cabin at night and get his meal denied again. And then he would probably be strangled to death by Philo since Alec had promised not to kill him himself.

They walked in companionable silence until about half way back when Alec suddenly dove into the brush. A high squeak was heard and he came back holding the limp form of a rabbit. "Dinner." he growled, holding it up proudly. Ellis smiled, rolling his eyes at the Hunter. He noticed that he had been making efforts to talk more as of late which made Ellis glad for him. He could tell that Alec got embarrassed when he couldn't talk right or only managed to get out half a word before it turned back into a growl. The fact that he hadn't given up yet because of it was a true sign of his stubbornness.

"Alright. Its my turn to cook tonight." Alec nodded to that. He wasn't exactly gifted in the kitchen. But they still switched off on cooking just for the heck of it. Ellis supposed it was a way for the person it got stuck with to avoid looking like a housewife. Alec was normally stuck with washing their clothes though just because he could get it done faster. He didn't seem to mind out right but Ellis could always hear him growling to himself as he got closer to finishing; seeing as the washing machine and dryer in the house were broken and they had to do it old fashioned style; and was getting blisters on his fingers from the hot water. Tongue torture for Philo would normally follow. Alec's new thing was tying it to the ceiling fan and spinning the blades to get it all knotted up.

"Dude, what happened to ya?" Philo inquired when he saw Alec's new wounds. Alec groaned something back, rolling his red eyes. He inched past the Smoker and grabbed the knives he used to skin all his catches. "Yer brother? Ya mean like the-"

"Philo!" Alec snapped in the human tongue, glaring at the Smoker. He growled but it didn't seem to be one with words to it because Philo didn't reply to it. Ellis gave the Smoker an inquiring look and when Alec had left, Philo sighed.

"A couple nights ago, 'is other brother an' father broke in and tried to take the food in the fridge." Philo shrugged, his long tongue doing confused twirls in the air in front of him. "Must 'ave more than one brother." he grinned. "I had five. Big family."

Ellis laughed at that. "I was an only child. I wonder how many siblings Alec had."

"Ask him. He'll tell you anythin if he's capable." Philo snickered. "I bet he was the baby of the family." Ellis rolled his eyes at the Smoker. Their conversation screeched to a halt when Alec came back in with the now skinned and butchered rabbit. All bones and organs were removed, leaving just the meat. "That was fast." Alec grunted something back that was probably an 'of course it was and laid the meat on the counter for Ellis to cook.

"We're gonna have to go to town, see if the store has any spices and stuff. Plain meat is kinda... well plain." Ellis commented as he pulled out a large pot, filling it some with water. Alec and Philo both gave him a 'you're insane' look. He knew it was just because the Infection had screwed with their taste buds. "Fer me dimwits." he snapped with good humor. Both chuckled back and retreated into the living room. Boredom was becoming a killer for all of them. If and when they went into town Ellis made it his mission to find a portable DVD player and some movies. And lots of batteries.

Later that night, Ellis actually managed to stay awake until Alec had fallen asleep. It had been raining steadily for a few hours, the sound comforting and relaxing. As was the Hunter's body heat beside him. Now that winter was closer than ever, it had been getting colder at night and the heater, which seemed like it would choke and die any day now, could only do so much. Ellis felt sort of sorry that Philo was by himself in the next room over but couldn't really do much about it. Carefully shifting up onto his elbows, Ellis looked down at Alec's sleeping face. On the rare occasion he could catch the Hunter dozing during the day, he liked to watch him. The peace that took over the Hunter's scarred face showed Ellis that even the Infected could be human again. Because with his eyes closed, and his mouth shut, soft snores coming from him, Alec looked human. You would never believe he was Infected until he opened his eyes and you were stabbed with the burning red that they had become from what ever color they had once been. He wasn't deathly pale like many other Infected, he didn't have any boils or tumors like the others. The only deformity on him were the scars he had gotten so long ago that spanned the length of his face diagonally.

Alec let out a low sigh, shifting and rolling over closer to Ellis. The hillbilly laid down on his side facing him, reaching up with one hand and running it through the Hunter's surprisingly soft dark brown hair. He had made a point of keeping Alec and Philo clean in some form. He had to get Philo to actually hold Alec down the first time because the Hunter had been squirming so much. Ellis had saved him some dignity and let him keep his boxers though. Philo, after much arguing, had just gone to the shower himself. But apparently Alec was like a cat in the sense that he didn't like water. Now he just shuffled off to the shower whenever told to or risk another episode of 'let's hold Alec down in a water basin and scrub 'till he sparkles.'

Ellis chuckled at that thought, sweeping his eyes around the room in slight boredom. He was sort of tense now that he knew another Hunter was prowling around. This one obviously didn't think like Alec and Philo did, with some sort of sense. It was probably only interested in food and now that it had prey in sight it wouldn't give up. Whether or not he was Alec's brother, Alec obviously didn't like him much any more, and Ellis figured that Philo wouldn't have a problem killing him if the Smoker thought he posed a threat to either of his friends. He was protective that way.

Suddenly Alec breathed in deeply, snapping his eyes open and sitting up with a groggy snarl. "Max..." he snarled in the human tongue. He glanced down at Ellis, seeming mildly surprised that he was awake and shifted a bit closer.

"The Hunter from earlier?" Ellis inquired, sitting up beside Alec. He nodded, glaring around the room. "Is he in the house?" another nod. So this Hunter could pick locks huh? Either that or it busted down the door or the plywood on the windows. Alec growled when a shuffling on the other side of the door was heard.

"Its just me." Philo said as he opened it. "There's a Hunter in the kitchen. Its got yer hat Ellis."

"My hat?" Ellis felt his head then remembered that he had taken it off while he had been cooking the rabbit earlier. Alec growled at Philo, obviously telling him something because the Smoker rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yer hat." Philo replied to Ellis's question. "And no I ain't gonna kill 'im for you." he turned to Alec who whined at him. "I don't care if ya promised. He's yer brother-" Alec snarled at the word but Philo continued like he hadn't interrupted, "so you deal with him." Philo sighed, slipping fully inside and closing the door. "He'll leave eventually." Alec shook his head forcefully, growling something out. Philo seemed mildly surprised by that because his single eyebrow went up. "He wants ta what now?" Alec snapped at him. "Wow."

"Wow what?" Ellis sighed, used to listening to one sided conversations between the Infected. Philo looked at Alec as if asking permission to tell him. The Hunter growled but nodded.

"Apparently, frog-leg's brother wants more'n just yer flesh."

"Creeper." Alec snarled, resting his chin in one palm. It took Ellis a moment to get what the Smoker was getting at and when he did, it almost knocked the air out of him.

"Goddamn. Yer right, he is a creeper." Ellis laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Well, let's just wait 'till morning. If he's still here, you can chase him off again Alec."

Alec didn't seem happy about that but he nodded anyway, not laying down. He kept his eyes on the door as Philo grabbed a chair. "Ima stay in here. They guy's huge and I don't think ya can handle 'im by yer-self again frog-legs." Alec seemed a bit offended by that but shrugged. Philo sat down and pulled out his pack of cigarettes that he had found a few days ago. He was smoking them slowly, wanting them to last. Alec sniffed in a disapproving manner at the Smoker as he lit the cigarette but didn't make any move to stop him. The room was big enough that the smoke wouldn't bother the Hunter's sensitive nose like it did when they were in a confined space and Philo decided to light one.

After a while, Ellis could hear some snuffling outside the door. Alec and Philo heard it too because they exchanged a look, a growl rumbling from Alec. The Hunter glared at the door as Max scratched on the other side of it, eventually finding the doorknob and turning it slowly. Alec shifted into a crouch on the bed and Philo readied his tongue to help his friend as the door swung open slowly. Max crept in, sniffing the air. His red eyes centered on Alec who growled and lowered himself some to pounce. Max took another step forward and was then thrown back by Alec plowing into him. He let out a startled scream and the two rolled into the other room. Ellis heard the sound of fabric tearing and got concerned when Alec yowled. Philo ran to the door, motioning for Ellis to stay put because he didn't have a weapon. He shot his tongue in to the darkness, snagging Max around the waist and dragging him back while Alec recovered from whatever injury he had gotten. The Smoker tightened his grip on the other Hunter, making him let out high squeaks as the air was squeezed out of him. Alec jumped on him then but Max refused to go down easily. Using his greater height and mass to his advantage, he flipped over and threw Alec off him.

A bang split the darkness then and Max yowled, scrabbling at his leg as it bled from a single hole in it. Philo and Alec looked into the darkness but Ellis couldn't see around the Smoker's form in the doorway. Alec growled again, crouching to pounce. Philo laid a hand on the Hunter's shoulder as Max fell over, his injured leg unable to hold his weight. "Who's there." the Smoker called. He pulled out his lighter, the small flame providing some light. Ellis stood up now that Max was down and looked around Philo's taller form. A flashlight clicked on in the dark and revealed a slightly short boy with black hair and scared blue eyes. He was shaking as Alec continued to growl at him. Another brother?

"I-I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to be here but I saw Max prowling through the forest in this direction and... I felt bad for running away from Alec again." the boy said. He looked like he was maybe Ellis's age, a bit older than Alec. "I-I'm Joshua, Alec's other brother." Alec snarled at him, making him flinch.

Ellis rolled his eyes and shoved his way around Philo, giving the still writhing Max a wide berth. "Don't mind 'im." he glared at Alec who ducked his head, but didn't stop growling. "I'm Ellis." he motioned for Joshua to come a bit closer. "Don't worry, I won't let either of them hurt ya." Joshua took a shaky step forward, keeping his eyes on his brother who was glaring him down. He shook Ellis's hand, flinching when Alec growled at the contact a bit louder. "Behave Alec." Ellis sighed.

The Hunter snarled and grabbed Max, wrenching him to his feet with his arms behind his back like he was arresting him. He forced Max to walk and lead him to the back door, snarling something at Philo as he left. "Will do frog-legs." the Smoker called just before the door swung closed. "He said he's gonna drown Max in the river. And to keep an eye on you." he nodded at Joshua. "I'm Philo by the way."

"Is... is he really going to drown him?" Joshua asked, seeming more nervous than ever.

"Unfortunately yeah." the Smoker confirmed. "He's very territorial over this one," he motioned with his thumb toward Ellis who scowled some, "And apparently yer brother wanted things of Ellis that Alec didn't like." Joshua's eyes grew huge at that.

"Wow, he's just as creepy as ever. Infection or no." he let out a small snort at that. "Max is, was, the oldest of us. Alec the second youngest, our only sister the very youngest. I was the very middle child, two older brothers. I don't know what happened to Patrick." he continued, obviously aware of the two's curiosity toward who was who in Alec's family. Joshua sighed. "We abandoned Alec when our mother attacked him. Our sister had already been Infected and our father had to shoot her and mom. He shot Alec too, but apparently missed his heart." Joshua shivered a that. "God... I feel so guilty. I never wanted to leave him."

"Well, we've all been abandoned so don't feel too bad. Yer not the only one with guilt." Ellis sighed, thinking back to his supposed human friends who had left him for dead in New Orleans. He still couldn't understand why but the fact that more Infected seemed to be getting intelligent didn't leave much room for error. Shaking off those thoughts for later, Ellis put on a grin. "Well, I'll make sure Alec doesn't try and chase you out when he comes back. You can sleep on the couch if you want."

Joshua seemed surprised by that but nodded. "Alright."

"Hey, if ya don't mind me askin, what happened to yer dad?"

Joshua flinched at that, obviously remembering something unpleasant. "Alec got his revenge." he whispered, looking down at the floor. Ellis remembered the corpse from earlier and shivered. He had gotten revenge alright. Shoving the image away, Ellis lead Joshua to the couch, fetching him a blanket. When he came back, he noticed that Philo was still staring through the doorway to the den, his milky yellow eye centered on Joshua.

"Why're you lookin at him like that?" the hillbilly inquired with a half hidden smirk. Philo puffed off some smoke, embarrassment written across his expression.

"No reason." the Smoker muttered, shuffling back to his room without another word. Ellis laughed to himself, going back into his room and closing the door. He laid down on the bed, pondering Alec's family. It seemed like Alec and Joshua were the only normal ones but he didn't know about this Patrick guy, Alec's other older brother. Ellis decided he would worry about it later though, rolling over. It would all come together in the end one way or another.

_**Yay, this one's crap! God... I have a headache and it made it hard to type this one with some sort of sense. Yeah, Alec did drown Max. He doesn't anyone going after his Ellis. Oh yeah, I have no friends on Steam so... my user-name is Spiri2_0 but my player name is kouenkagemaru, dunno which one you would use. I know this sounds whiny, but if ya want, add me. I don't get on often but oh well, its good to play with real people instead of bots. Review! I'm loving it!**_


	10. Rebirthing

Separated

_**Oh my god... I think part of me is going to die during this one. If you don't like gay Infected x Human sex, then skip till like the middle. I'll put markers or something. The song fits Ellis's and Alec's relationship more than it does the chapter but... meh. Oh well, I like it anyway.**_

Chapter 10-Rebirthing; _Skillet_

_"Let go of me! I'm your brother!" _Max screamed as Alec towed him toward the river. His claws here digging into the other's wrist in an attempt to make Alec let him go but the other stubbornly kept his hands clamped around his arms.

_"You're no brother of mine. Walk!" _Alec shoved him roughly, kicking the bullet wound in the other Hunter's leg, making him yelp and stumble forward.

_"What's the matter? You don't want to share that fine hillbilly ass that you're protecting?"_ Max snickered. Alec snarled, kicking him again, this time making sure to drive one of the claws his toenails had become into Max's flesh. Max screeched, this leg giving way and he fell to the ground, Alec having had let go of him. Alec slammed his foot down on the other's head, driving his face into the mud. So he hadn't made it to the river. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to kill Max. The Hunter flailed, one claw catching Alec on the leg making him hiss and jump back. Max took the opportunity to try and get away but Alec was on him before he could make it a foot. Alec pinned him to the ground, taking the other's head in his hands and cracking it to the side sharply, a satisfying crack ringing through the silent forest. Max's body became limp and he breathed no more.

Letting out a growling sigh, Alec got off Max's body, examining the slash on his leg. Rolling his shoulders, he made his way back toward the cabin. _"Two down, two to go. Now I have to track down Patrick once Joshua is taken care of." _he paused and looked up at the black sky. _"Then again, Ellis probably won't let me hurt him now that he's met him."_ And really, he had nothing against Joshua. He had come back after all so Alec had no reason to really dislike him anymore. But it would take a while for Joshua to regain his trust and respect. Growling, Alec jogged the rest of the way to the cabin, rubbing the mud on his feet away before he entered. The moon was starting to sink below the trees which meant that Alec had only gotten a couple hours of sleep.

"Oh there ya are." Philo yawned as he shuffled out of his room, just as Alec was about to go into his own. "I was startin to think that Max had dragged you in with 'im."

_"We never made it to the river. He was being the stubborn ass he's always been and I got fed up." _Alec shrugged, frowning some. _"I want you to take Joshua into town today. We needs some things from it. Hang on." _Alec shuffled into the kitchen, finding a note pad and scratching a few things down on it in his chicken scratch hand writing. Handing it to Philo, who was still waking up, he glared into the other room at Joshua who was still asleep.

"Alright. But why do ya want me to take Josh?"

Alec raised an eyebrow at the fact that Joshua had already been given a bit of a nickname but shrugged it off quickly. _"Just do it Philo. You need to get out of the cabin just as much as I do and some company will do you good... poor company though it may be."_

Philo scowled at Alec's attitude but coughed out a sigh. "Fine." he sighed, going to wake Joshua up. Alec waited until they were gone before he left the kitchen. Slinking into the bedroom, he crouched at the side, watching Ellis sleep for a while. His stomach was knotting up more the longer he watched him. He knew why and he really wanted to wake Ellis up and remedy his problem but didn't know the reaction. _Well the bastard was right about one thing... fine hillbilly ass is right._ Alec groaned to himself a bit grudgingly. Though a thought like that seemed a bit mean, making it seem like Ellis was just his bitch instead of someone he loved. Shaking that thought off, Alec carefully crawled into the bed beside him, careful not to shake it too much. He apparently failed because Ellis rolled over and cracked his bright blue eyes open.

"Alec?" he muttered. "Oh! Alec, you're back." he sat up abruptly, making the Hunter back up some before their foreheads collided. Alec grinned at him, crossing his legs Indian style beside him. "Did you really..." he trailed off. Alec sighed, resting his chin in one palm. He took his other hand and snapped it to one side, making a clicking sound in the back of his throat. Ellis shivered at that but moved a bit closer to Alec, pressing their sides together. "Its kinda cold huh?" he asked in a hushed voice. Alec purred in agreement, wrapping one arm around the hillbilly's shoulders. It was kinda chilly in the room. The heater must have frozen up.

**(Lemon start) **Using his grip on Ellis, Alec dropped his weight onto the bed, bringing the hillbilly with him. Ellis let out a startled yelp as they fell and while they dropped, Alec somehow turned until he was straddling the other. "What are you doing?" Ellis asked, tilting his head to one side some, looking like Alec with how he would cock his head when he was confused. Alec smiled at him, leaning down and pressing their foreheads together. While he had Ellis's eyes locked in his, Alec slid his hands under the hillbilly's shirt, making him shiver at his chilly fingers. _Time to warm up_. He chuckled to himself. Nothing real intimate had happened between the two aside from initial closeness, physical and emotional. Alec had always been hesitant to do anything like that with Ellis because of his claws, fangs, and general greater strength. Now though, he wasn't. He wanted and needed it bad and from the look in Ellis's eyes, he was the same way.

Alec pressed his cold fingers against Ellis's warm sides a bit harder, pushing on a couple pressure points that made him arch his back some. Ellis rose his arms, wrapping them around the back of Alec's neck, yanking him down and pressing their mouths together. Alec was stunned for a moment before he leaned into it with a small sigh. The first thing he noticed was that they both really needed to brush their teeth, the next was that Ellis's hands had moved down and had slipped under his own shirt, warm fingers sliding over every rippling muscle and every scar. Alec pressed their torsos together, feeling not only his own growing erection, but the bulge forming in Ellis's jeans. He had been forced to abandon his coveralls a long time ago. Ellis let out a low noise and pulled his head back, taking in a deep breath. Alec took the separation as an opportunity to remove his shirt. As the cold air hit his now heated flesh, the hillbilly gasped, shivering some. Alec smirked, moving down and running the tip of his nose over Ellis's chest and stomach, breathing in his scent. Sticking out his tongue, he ran back up the length of his body, making Ellis gasp as air hit the wet line.

Alec felt Ellis wrap one hand around the shoulder of his shirt, pulling on it. "Off with it." he grunted, seeming awful assertive now that he was worked up. Alec smirked at him, pulling off his shirt, feeling Ellis's eyes rake over ever inch of him. Leaning up, Alec's smirk widened as he pressed his palm into Ellis's growing bulge and the hillbilly groaned lowly. While he was pressing, he used nimble fingers to pull down the zipper on the jeans and undo the button. Using the claws on his toes to hook the fabric, he straightened his leg, pulling the jeans down simultaneously. Boxers had become a thing of the past for them so there wasn't an extra layer to remove. Ellis stiffened up some at the sudden onslaught of cold air, letting out a puffing breath as he adjusted. Alec didn't give him time to relax though, his Hunter mind having punched a couple holes in the walls that had formed to separate the two parts of his mind. Placing his hands on either side of Ellis's head, he seemed to read the hillbilly's mind through his eyes as Ellis fumbled with the Hunter's jeans. Eventually, they were slid down.

Alec slowly guided himself into Ellis's entrance, watching as his mouth opened in a silent moan. When Alec had fully sheathed himself, he leaned down and captured Ellis's lips again as he pulled out just as slowly. Ellis moaned into his mouth, wrapping his arms around Alec's neck again. Taking one claw, Alec ran his finger down Ellis's side, raising goosebumps all the way down. As he dragged his claw back up he pushed back in. He quickly got a rapid rhythm going, and while he did, he also took Ellis's erection in his clawed hands, rubbing it up and down in time with his thrusts. Moans dragged from both of them as their bodies heated up, pleasure coursing through them, mounting as time passed. Between gasps and moans, Ellis ground out something unintelligible that Alec didn't pay any mind, too far gone. Suddenly, the hillbilly's back arched and he came with a low groan, falling limply onto the bed, panting. Alec was close too, with one final thrust, burying himself deeply, he came as well a growl pulling from his throat. He pulled out, laying down beside Ellis, who was still regaining his breath. **(End of world's worst lemon)**

"Goddamn... what brought that on. Not that I'm complainin." Ellis asked in a breathy voice. Alec just purred and pulled him closer, pressing his face into his neck, feeling his quickened pulse. They were both glad Philo and Joshua weren't home but if they didn't get moving soon, Philo would take it upon himself to do it for them. Via drag-age to the kitchen sink followed by having their heads held down in cold water. Ellis obviously realized that and cared more than Alec because he sighed, reaching down and pulling his pants back up. "I'll shower later." he grunted. Alec hooked one arm around his stomach, yanking him back down when he tried to sit up. "Alec. I'd love to stay in bed as much as you would but we gotta get up." Alec let out a whine of protest, tightening his grip. Ellis sighed, reaching behind him and prodding Alec in the ribs. The Hunter yelped and let go, giving Ellis enough time to spring to his feet. "Ha ha I win." he laughed while Alec grumbled, yanking his pants back up. He rubbed his lower back, already a bit sore but didn't mention it so Alec didn't feel guilty. "Hm. On second thought, I'll shower now." Ellis said to himself, grabbing some new jeans and a fresh shirt, making his way to the bathroom. "Stay." he commanded when Alec moved to follow him.

"Mean." the Hunter whined in protest.

"Well," he looked out the door and into the den. "Seein as you sent Philo and Josh away who knows how long ago, I don't wanna be making strange noises in the shower when they get back." Alec narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms and seeming to pout. "Christ yer hopeless. And yer actin like a child." Alec smirked and stuck his tongue out. Ellis chuckled, walking to the bathroom and stepping into the shower once he had removed his pants again. The hot water felt awesome but all the cold air outside seemed to come inside and attack him. Ellis shivered some and got dressed quickly, rubbing a coarse towel through his hair to dry it faster. When he came out, he saw Alec leaning against the wall across from the door. "You. Shower. Now." he pointed into the door. Alec whined a little but didn't protest, shuffling into the shower. While he was in there, the hillbilly grabbed him some jeans and a shirt as well as a clean hoodie. The other one was in dire need of washing and needed some stitching up too. Moving back to the bathroom, he opened the door, dropping them on the sink and closing it again, barely noticing Alec scrubbing furiously at some mud stuck to the bottom of his foot.

Ellis was in a cloud of bliss the rest of the day, barely noticing the passage of time when normally he would notice every other second just because he was so bored. Alec hovered as close as he could, either just wanting to be close or being protective considering that he didn't seem to trust Joshua yet. At one point, Philo pulled Alec to the side and after Alec broke down into a fit of hysterical laughter, the Hunter sobered up and seemed to growl something serious at him that seemed to throw the Smoker for a loop because he was quiet for all of two hours before he started ragging on both Alec and Ellis about the reason why Alec had sent Philo and Joshua into town. Ellis promptly turned red, as did Alec but the Hunter seemed more inclined to answer his teasing than the flustered hillbilly. In fact, his answer when Phil started getting more worked up, going Shakespeare a little, was to pounce on him and tie his tongue in an intricate bow around the Smokers neck before dragging him outside and tossing him in the freezer for about ten minutes. Ellis rode on him until the Hunter relented and let the now freezing Smoker out.

"Why're you so mean to me?" Philo whined when he had warmed up. Alec snarled at him, obviously flustered and angry. Ellis patted the Hunter on the head as he moved past him into the kitchen to heat up some left over meat.

"Don't worry Philo, he was like that even when he was five." Joshua said, having regained some courage. He shrunk back though when Alec directed a nasty glare his way.

"Alec, behave yer-self." Ellis called from the kitchen. "He's your brother, act like yer related for one second, please." Alec growled something under his breath, not meant for Ellis to hear but his hearing was obviously better than the Hunter gave him credit for. "What was that?"

"Uh he said 'I am.'" Philo translated hastily when Ellis appeared in the kitchen doorway, giving the Smoker a pointed look. "Though ya could make an attempt to be a little nicer." he continued turning his single milky yellow eye to the Hunter. He growled back, narrowing his burning red eyes, flashing a glare at Joshua. Ellis looked at him for a translation. "'I have no reason to be nice to the one who abandoned me.' Gosh. You sure can hold a grudge." Alec quipped something that was probably a 'yes I can' and leaped to his feet. The sudden movement made Joshua flinch but Alec made no move toward him, instead he walked into the kitchen, sitting on the counter beside the kitchen sink. He watched as Ellis heated up some elk meat from a couple nights ago in a frying pan, actually seeming interested in what he was cooking. His red eyes never left the meat while his toes wiggled in the air almost expectantly.

"What? You actually want to try some?" Ellis asked, pointing at the sizzling meat. Alec shrugged, drumming his claws on the counter. "Alright, but only if you actually swallow it. Yer gettin too thin fer my liking." he poked Alec in the stomach to accent his statement, making the Hunter let out a soft squeak.

Philo snickered in the next room at their quiet flirting making Alec let out a half annoyed half amused growl "Philo..." he hissed.

"Yeah frog-legs?"

"Can it." the Hunter snapped, actually managing to say more than one word at a time. Ellis grinned at that, stabbing a smaller piece of the diced up meat with a fork and passing it to Alec. The Hunter stared at it until it stopped sizzling then stuck it in his mouth. His face screwed up some but not as much as it had the first time. He actually managed to swallow it but stuck his tongue out, making a gagging noise.

"Well looks like you're stuck with raw for a while longer." Ellis said with a shrug, having not really expected anything different. Alec shrugged nonchalantly, glaring at Philo as he chuckled in the next room.

"Hey maybe we can try shoving some lettuce down 'is throat."

_"Only after you jackass." _Alec snarled back, glaring even harder. He'd probably vomit if he ate something like that. There was only so much he could handle. Philo made a gagging noise which was closely followed by a cough. Alec's glare turned a bit triumphant at that and he slid down from the counter as Ellis piled meat onto his plate. He was just about finished when Alec and Philo both stood up at the same time, sprinting to either side of the closed and locked door. _"Goddamn it. Alright, I know that there's a tracker on one of us because there's no way-"_

"I know. What do ya think we should do?" Philo cut him off, glancing at Ellis and Joshua in the next room.

_"Take them both. Get them to safety. I'll try and hold them off as long as I can."_

"I'm not leaving you behind frog-legs." the Smoker coughed as the door rattled. He leaned against it as Alec did to keep it from swinging in, locked or not. "Ellis, grab a gun and give one ta Josh too. Get outta here." Ellis didn't question him, running to a cabinet and pulling out two M16s and a couple pipe bombs. He nudged Joshua to his feet and ran with him to the back door.

_"Philo get the hell out of here. I'm faster, I can buy them some time for you to get away."_

"And I can goddamn double it." Philo snapped back. Alec couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as the Smoker said that. Nodding, he waited until he heard the back door click closed before he unlocked the door and jumped back with Philo, hiding on either side of the entry way as the platoon of soldiers on their front step opened the door and walked in with guns ready.

_**I've been working on the goddamn chapter for eight hours 'cause my grandmother is watching The Closer in the next room and I keep getting distracted. And I know its short but it's meant to be that way. I promise you that the next one will be longer. And I was right, part of me did die during the writing of the lemon. It had to be the worst one I have ever written... God. Anyway, review please! Oh yeah, before I forget, go check out G-ChanSanKun's story 'Left Behind.' Leave a review 'cause it deserves it but don't flame just 'cause its similar to mine. I told her she could use the idea and she disclaimed it. **_


	11. Prayer of the Refugee

Separated

Chapter 11- Prayer of the Refugee; _Rise Against_

Alec signaled for Philo to back up into the kitchen as the soldiers drew closer, moving behind a recliner himself. They would wait until they were fully inside and then ambush them. There were ten of them, and were most likely looking for a place to stay for the night since it was getting colder. Though it seemed weird that they appeared wherever the ragtag group seemed to go without fail. As soon as the tenth soldier was in the den, Alec let a silent grow vibrate through the air to Philo in the kitchen and leaped on top of the recliner with a howl. The initial reaction was of course panic as Alec pounced the first and Philo snagged another and dragged him into the kitchen. A loud crack sounded followed by a thump. The Smoker stayed hidden while his tongue regrew and Alec busied himself with confusing the remaining soldiers by leaping around the room and screeching, making them spin to follow him in some funky dance.

Finally panic was pushed to the back of their minds and they opened fire on Alec. Another soldier was yanked into the kitchen and had his neck snapped and Philo grabbed his gun, firing at the feet of the other seven. Alec couldn't land a pounce without getting shot so he served as a distraction while Philo made the soldiers dance. _"Leave one alive!" _Alec screeched, knocking over two at the same time and leaping off. He was getting tired already, not used to doing this much jumping any more since his life had mellowed down and it wasn't required. Philo coughed back, shooting the knee of one out so he remained on the ground and out of range of the bullets. Alec leaped on another, feeling a bullet connect with his shoulder and another with his arm from two different directions. Yowling, he jumped back, hiding around the corner in the small hall that connected the bedrooms and bathroom. Silence fell, the only noise the fearful pants of the remaining four or so soldiers.

Yanking the bullets out of his arm and shoulder, Alec snarled, growling viciously and constantly to raise the tension of the remaining humans. When they slowly made their way toward the door, Alec could just hear the click of Philo reloading the gun he had taken. "Alright guys, when I get pounced, cover me." one said in a shaking voice. Alec saw him half enter the hall and ducked into a bedroom. He would lead them to the back of the house where they would be cornered in the door-less area by the back door for Philo to finish them off. "Where'd it go?" Alec growled, darting out of the bedroom and into another across the hall and down some. The soldiers slowly followed him, jumping back some when he darted into the bathroom. He let them think they had cornered him when they reached the back door, crouching down to avoid any stray bullets as he saw Philo take aim from the other end of the hall and pull the trigger. The soldiers dropped like flies, too stunned to turn and return fire.

_"Nice shooting Tex." _Alec complimented, standing up straight. _"Now lets go see what our friend has to tell us." _Philo nodded, moving into the den with Alec on his heels. The downed soldier was trying to crawl away and was quickly stopped by Alec's heavy steel toe boot landing on his back, slamming him into the ground. He made a grab for his pistol but Philo's tongue shot out and took it from him. The human shook violently under Alec's shoe, getting a grin from the Hunter.

"Now then my friend, why don't ya tell me why you and yer military buddies seem to appear everywhere me and my pals go?" Philo asked in a hissing voice, his milky yellow eye narrowed. The soldier remained quiet and Philo looked up at Alec. The Hunter grinned wider, crouching down and dragging one claw down the soldier's face, leaving a bloody line. "My Hunter friend here will keep slicing you open until we get our answers my friend. Either ya tell us or ya suffer." the Smoker nodded at Alec and the Hunter ripped open the back of the soldier's vest, making him let out a startled cry as he dug his claws into the flesh on his sides.

"Alright! The President is moving us north looking for intelligent Infected and carriers." he looked at Philo with pleading eyes. "Please, we're just following orders. Don't kill me." he begged.

_"It seems awful strange that they just happen to appear at the very house we're at. This cabin is sheltered from the main road and they would have no reason to hike a half mile into the mountains and forest with how cold it is just to look for somewhere to stay for the night." _Alec growled, digging his claws into the man's side further. Philo translated for the unfortunate human, making him gulp.

"We-we've been following a signal of a tracker in a visor from a stolen uniform." Philo looked up at Alec who leaped off the human and grabbed his visor from the table near the couch. He dropped it in front of the human, making him jump.

_"Find the tracker."_ he snarled, Philo translating. The human swallowed hard and ripped open the bottom of the bill, pulling out a microchip that was about the size of his thumb nail. _"I was right, there was a tracker on one of us. On me!"_ he growled, snatching his now tracker free visor back. _"Why would a tracker be in a military visor?"_ Philo once again translated.

"Its become mandatory since the Infection." the soldier answered after some coaxing via claws in his ribs again. "If a soldier gets separated from his group they need to be able to find them fast in case they get attacked."

"Or Infected. In which case ya just shoot 'im and pretend he never existed huh?" Philo coughed, his nose crinkling up in disgust. "What exactly would the President have done to us if his military goons got their hands on us hm?"

"I-I don't know. We were never told things like that. Just, find intelligent Infected and carriers."

_"What do you have some special built in sensor now too?" _Alec snorted contemptuously.

The human gulped some and shook his head once Philo had told him what the Hunter had said. "No, but we have tranquilizers for any special Infected that seem intelligent and we take blood from them to see what their blood is like. Normally the smarter ones have more human blood where as the ones with more animal like tendencies have animal like blood." he paused and breathed in deeply, continuing when Alec applied more pressure on his claws. "The Infected aren't human anymore, the Infection mutated their, your, DNA and changed it to be somewhat animal like. But the ones capable of thought and things like that are less mutated, at least inwardly."

"Hm. What about carriers? Same thing? Knock 'em out an' test their blood?" the soldier nodded and Philo snorted. "Seems awful barbaric."

"We just follow orders." the soldier mumbled. Alec and Philo exchanged a look.

_"I think we've got all we can get out of him. Let's say we tape this tracker," _he held up the tiny microchip, _"to him and send him on his merry way down the river."_ Philo didn't seem to particularly like the Hunter's sadistic plan but he was sick of being stalked by men with guns so he nodded, going into the kitchen to get some duct tape. The taped the soldier's mouth closed, taped his hands and feet together rodeo style, and then taped the microchip to his back. Dragging him to the river, Philo helped Alec throw him in, watching as he floated with the current, slowly drowning. _"Now let's go find Ellis and Joshua." _the Hunter growled taking to the trees while Philo ran along the ground after him.

"Wait! Are we going back ta the cabin or are we gonna find a new one?" Philo called, making the Hunter pause.

_"The military is probably all over town so I think we need to head south, toward Durango or something." _they were in an area close to Denver right now. _"But first I think we need to drop by the cabin again and get our clothes. If we get stuck out here over night we'll have to layer up or freeze." _Philo nodded to that, following the Hunter back to the cabin. Alec jumped down from the trees when it came into sight and sprinted inside with Philo. They grabbed a couple rucksacks and stuffed them with clothes until they could barely close them. They then set out to find Ellis and Joshua. It didn't take long and Alec greeted Ellis by pouncing on him, sitting on his back like an expectant dog.

"Hello Alec." the hillbilly groaned when he peeled his face out of the ground. He wasn't hurt, just startled. He hadn't expected a vicious blur of pure muscle to sail out of the trees behind him and plow him into the ground. "Get off me please." the Hunter chuckled and leaped off him, offering him his hand and helping him up. "So what happened?" he asked, eying the new holes in Alec's hoodie. Philo told him everything, getting horrified looks when he finished, telling them how they got rid of the last one. "That's awful mean." Ellis said, shaking his head.

"Well hey, we don't want 'im squealin that he found not only two intelligent Infected, but a _talking_ one." Alec growled. "And one that can sorta talk. That would get us swarmed faster than you could say 'Holy Boomer.'"

Joshua, who had sort of been hanging back some, still wary of Alec, stepped forward. "So what now since it seems like we can't go back to the cabin?" he got a couple curious looks from the other three, not used to him asking questions without being prompted first. "What? Alec may be the brave one but I'm not that much of a coward."

_"Yeah you are." _Alec snorted, narrowing his red eyes at his brother. Joshua swallowed thickly and averted his gaze. Alec rolled his eyes. _"That just proves it." _

"Alec, ya have to be either pretty brave or pretty stupid to hold the gaze of a Hunter." Philo snorted, the coughed. "But to answer yer question Josh, we're gonna head south fer the winter. Hang around Durango or somethin for a while."

"How long will that take, gettin there I mean." Ellis asked, scratching his head under his hat. The Hunter and Smoker exchanged a look, both shrugging when they couldn't come up with a time frame. "Alright. As long as we get there before first snow. I don't want to become an Ellis-cicle." they all grinned at that, even perpetually nervous Joshua had one curl its way onto his face.

"That is why we cleared the cabin of all clothes." Philo coughed, slinging the rucksack off his back as Alec did. The Hunter passed his to Joshua. "You goin tree leapin?"

_"Yeah. I'm gonna make sure there's no soldiers or threatening Infected in our path."_ Alec replied, going over to a tree and climbing up it. _"I'll call down if there's any danger." _he called. Philo nodded and waved him off.

"C'mon. We wanna keep 'im in sight if we don't wanna get lost." he said, jogging after Alec as the Hunter started leaping. Now and then Alec would pause to make sure they could see him before taking off again. A couple times he dove down from the tree and a startled yell could be heard, some times gunshots, all of which were abruptly cut off. When the sun started going down, they started looking for somewhere safe to stay for the night. No cabins could be found so Philo and Alec went to go look for some dry wood while Ellis and Joshua layered up. Once a fire was going, Alec vanished again, coming back with a rabbit. When they had been grabbing clothes, Alec had also gotten his skinning/butchering knives and slid them into the rucksacks as well so he busied himself with that, wiping his bloodied hands on a couple ferns near by. He then settled down beside Ellis, laying back on the pine needle covered ground with a low sigh. His legs were throbbing from leaping through trees for so long and he really needed to sleep.

He noticed that Philo kept glancing at Joshua and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't particularly protective of Joshua anymore so he had no reason to get mad if Philo decided to tongue rape him but he wished the Smoker would keep his leering and pining to himself. Rolling on his side, Alec started memorizing the weave of Ellis's jeans while the hillbilly and Joshua ate the rabbit meat. The military's action scared him some. If they were making a point of finding intelligent Infected and carriers, then what exactly would happen to those they found. Testing? Butchering? The possibilities were endless. If the world powers wanted to use the intelligent Infected they found to form their own little army, then a world war would break out as they struggled for control of the chaotic world. And if they wanted to use the carriers to fabricate a cure or a way to purposely infect others to make an army stronger then that would be all too easy. The mysterious business man Alec had rescued a couple weeks ago had been right when he said that the humans had become the monsters, that the Infected were the sane ones. Most Infected were only worried with surviving, eating sleeping... hell reproducing if at all possible. Alec didn't know and he doubted if Philo, who seemed to yank knowledge out of his butt crack, knew. If he did, he made no motion to talk about it and Alec didn't want him to. Its not like he would need to worry about that part of his life.

Maybe, they could find out more if they grabbed a higher up soldier instead of just a normal officer and interrogated them. If the military _was_ trying to form an Infected army, as unlikely as that may seem, then there had to be a way to stop it. If war broke out, the it would just add to the problems the world already had. More death, more suffering, more hate. As if there wasn't enough of that already.

Alec barely noticed that the fire had been doused and that Ellis had laid down next to him in the darkness until the hillbilly had pressed up against him. Alec shifted some, wrapping one arm securely around Ellis, pulling him against his chest and letting out a soft purr. At least he had this. The closeness he shared with Ellis showed the Hunter that not everything about what the world had become was bad. That there was some hope left. The innocence and optimism that Ellis somehow clung to while the others had let it go a long time ago told him that much. Closing his glowing red eyes, Alec slipped into an uneasy sleep.

He was woken up after dawn by Ellis sitting up abruptly. Opening his eyes with a groan, Alec looked around. Philo and Joshua were still sleeping. Ellis was looking around with a slightly panicked expression. "What?" Alec hissed, sitting up beside him. The hillbilly must have been awake for a long time because other wise Alec or Philo would have heard whatever freaked Ellis out when it got to the edge of the camp.

"There's someone coming toward us. I heard 'em curse. I guess they're human." Alec looked over in the direction Ellis was looking, noticing some movement. He growled, pulling his legs up so he could crouch and pounce quickly if he needed to. "Wait. They might be friendly." Ellis whispered, laying one hand across Alec's chest. The Hunter looked at him strangely but nodded, turning his eyes toward where whoever it was was making their way toward them. There was a flash of light colored clothes and someone literally fell out of the scrub with a groan. Ellis drew in a sharp breath, one hand clenching into a fist but his face didn't become angry, just shocked. "Nick!"

_**Ha ha! I bet you weren't expecting that huh? I **__**know**__** I said I would make this one longer and actually made it shorter but it sort of works out that way. I'm actually running out of ideas leading up to the big finale I have planned out but there's a couple more twists and a whole lot more information that I need to write out. Oh well, I'll figure it out.**_


	12. Not Alone

Separated

Chapter 12- Not Alone; _All That Remains_

Before Nick could react, Alec had hastily woken Philo up and the next thing the white clad man knew, he was tied up by the Smoker's tongue. Ellis protested halfheartedly for a couple minutes but fell silent when Alec and Philo both ignored him. Alec was busy telling the Smoker all about Nick, casting a glare his way now and then, making him shrink back some. The Smoker tightened his tongue for good measure, his milky eye forming into a glare. "So this is one of the bastards that left ya to die in Orleans?" the Smoker asked around his tongue, turning to Ellis.

Ellis sighed, rubbing one hand through his hair under his hat. "Yes."

"If you would just let me explain-" Nick was cut off when Alec made a motion with one hand and Philo muzzled him effectively with part of his tongue.

"Yuck." the Smoker complained. "Can't you get a dirty sock or somethin? Lord knows we have a surplus of them." Alec growled at him, probably telling him to shut up and moved over to the rucksack that Joshua was using as a pillow, still more or less passed out. He yanked it out from under his brother's head, making him bang it against a root.

"Ow!" he yelped, sitting up quickly clutching the back of his head. "Why Alec? Just, why?" he was obviously not a morning person. Alec gave him a 'why not' look similar to one he had given Ellis not too long ago when he had done something similar. Rummaging through the rucksack, he pulled out a once-white-but-now-brown sock and motioned for Philo to pull his tongue back. As soon as the slimy appendage was clear, Alec shoved the sock into Nick's mouth, glaring at him when he tried to spit it out. "Who's he?" Joshua asked, stretching his arms above his head. Nick gave him a pleading look while Philo explained the situation around his tongue.

Ellis really didn't know what to do. In one hand he had the man he had at one point partially relied on for protection while it was just him and three other humans but had abandoned him at first chance. In the other he had the two Infected and one human who cared and loved him unconditionally and he knew would never leave him if at all possible. He knew enough to know nothing was permanent. Sighing, he moved over to Nick and removed the gag, getting a cry of protest from Alec. He gave the Hunter a hard look and he quieted down quickly. "Now Nick. Start explaining or I'll let Philo hang you from a tree." he nodded to the Smoker who grinned. "Why did you leave me in New Orleans?"

Nick swallowed, spitting to one side to get rid of the dirty sock taste and took in as deep a breath as he could. "Alright. You want to know?" Ellis nodded, Alec looming behind him with a nasty glare painted across his scarred face. Nick gulped. "Infected. Smart ones like you and the Smoker." he nodded at Alec, wriggling his going-numb fingers some. "There were at least two dozen of them, two Tanks among them. I don't think I've ever run so fast in my life, not even after pissing off a Witch." he attempted a grin but it melted off immediately when Alec's glare got harder. He was obviously not in the mood for jokes.

"What are you doin here though? Orleans is half way across the country." Philo demanded from behind him.

_"He reeks of military." _Alec snarled, narrowing his red eyes.

"Yeah, ya do. Why do you smell like the military? We've had enough of those trigger happy bozos for one life time."

Nick's face when about as white as his suit was once upon a time and he gulped again. "When we left New Orleans, the helicopter brought us to a base in Denver. That's where myself, Rochelle, and Coach have all been in the past month or more." Alec growled, probably sensing a lie in there somewhere.

"Then why are ya here?" Ellis asked, seeming not quite as irritated as he had been before now that they had a legit reason for leaving him behind. He still didn't like it though. "If you had a safe place ta stay then why leave it."

"Because they were overflowing with survivors and were starting to line us up against walls and executing us. They already did that to Coach. Only the ones who are physically fit and not mentally or physically handicapped don't have to worry about being shot by their own military." he let out a disgusted noise. "I couldn't stand it anymore. Rochelle had already left, I don't know what happened to her. She just vanished one night. I took her lead and I've been heading south for a couple days now." he sucked in a deep breath, or as deep as he could. "I didn't expect to run into you though." he centered his green eyes on Ellis, erecting a possessive growl from Alec. Deciding to be braver than the situation merited, he narrowed his eyes at the Hunter. "What's up with you're pet? Ack!" Alec's hands were suddenly around his throat, a deep rumbling snarl coming from him and his red eyes narrowed furiously.

"Get off 'im Alec. I'm sure he doesn't mean no harm." Ellis gave Nick a hard look as he tugged Alec off him, obviously telling him to keep his snide remarks to himself. Alec whined in protest, obviously wanting to disembowel the conman just for showing up in their makeshift camp. Let alone making remarks in places he had no business making them. "Josh, keep and eye on 'im. Alec, Philo, come with me." he motioned for Philo to let go of Nick and made his way into the brush, Alec hard on his heels. Philo slowly unwound his tongue, casting a hard glare his way as he passed him, jogging to catch up with the other human and the Hunter. Joshua moved closer to Nick, placing a pistol in his lap as he stared out over the tree tops at the lightening sky.

Nick went to shift but froze when Joshua's blue eyes snapped to him, giving him a glare that would rival his brother's. "I wouldn't advise moving. Not until they get back." he ground out, his timidness gone for the moment. He was going to regain his brother's trust and respect if it killed him. Or Nick. He was sure Alec would be happy if they came back and found the man dead but he didn't want to get on Ellis's bad side. The hillbilly's opinion obviously mattered when it came down to Alec and his readiness to deal with with threats and 'problems.' Ellis was probably the only reason Joshua himself was still alive. Especially with how quickly his father and Max had been dealt with.

"Oh come on. Is all this really necessary?" Nick demanded, running his hands through his short hair.

"Yes. You may have had some form of friendship with Ellis at one point but if Alec and Philo don't like you, you won't make it far." Joshua snapped back, narrowing his eyes. He glanced to the side when he heard an outraged screech from Alec and a loud yell from Philo. Ellis had apparently suggested something they didn't care for. "But it seems he's on your side so if you behave, you'll live for a while longer." he watched as Alec and Philo stomped out of the brush, followed by a irritated but slightly relieved Ellis.

"Ya can stay for now Nick. But if you do somethin threatenin toward any of us, these two will kill you." Ellis motioned to the Hunter and Smoker who were grouching on the opposite side of the burned out fire pit from them. "I can guarantee that." his bright blue eyes darkened some at an unspoken threat but he brightened up on the outside. "Well, let's get movin. We're headed to Durango right?" Alec gave him a suspicious look but nodded, climbing up in a tree, looking down at the rest of them pointedly. 'We going or not.' he seemed to say. Philo picked up one rucksack while Joshua picked up another. Ellis grabbed his gun and a pistol, passing another to Joshua. Nick was left weaponless. He would until they knew they could trust him again. He was kept in the center of the group, Ellis and Philo in front, keeping an eye on Alec, and Joshua covered the rear. Joshua kept a sharp eye on Nick as the man seemed to get more and more nervous as they walked.

"You got something to hide there?" he asked, lengthening his stride to get closer to Nick. Ellis and Philo looked over their shoulder, the Smoker calling to Alec to wait. The Hunter paused in a tree, spinning on a branch and leaping back until he was directly above Nick. The conman swallowed hard, unable to find his voice despite his natural boldness. "Well?"

"N-No. Its just... weird that we haven't run into any other Infected." Nick said quickly, a bit too quickly. He heard a snarl from above him, expecting to be plowed into the ground any time but the attack never came. Philo looked up at Alec, his expression becoming panicked some.

"Run!" he yelled suddenly, shooting his tongue up and pulling himself up into the tree beside Alec. Ellis led the way into the forest at a high speed, Joshua covering the back to make sure no one followed and Nick didn't try to break away and go his own way. The sound of machine guns behind them where they had just been made Ellis trip, fear for the Hunter and Smoker making his heart pound painfully. His throat almost closed off as he heard a high pained scream from Alec, followed by more gunshots. He hated not being able to help but knew that the two Infected could handle any threats and if not that then hold them off long enough for them to escape. They skidded to a halt a quarter mile away from the skirmish between Alec, Philo, and the military group they had fled from. Ellis kept his eyes glued on the path they had come from, listening intently for any sounds of approach.

A couple minutes later, Philo ran out of the brush, alone. He was wheezing hard, holding his shoulder which was oozing the odd greenish-yellow blood that Smokers had. He immediately stalked toward Nick, his milky eye furious. He slugged him in the face as hard as he could with his good arm, his upper lip twitching some in the beginnings of a un-Smoker-like snarl. "You! You lead 'em right to us!" he yelled, fury rolling off him in such high quantities that it was almost visible.

"Where's Alec?" Ellis asked, his heart thudding and lurching with each passing second that the Hunter didn't appear.

Philo sighed, going from pissed off to seeming to hate on himself. "They took him. Stuck 'im with a tranquilizer dart. It dropped him fast but he managed to take down two before it made 'im pass out. I couldn't do much... I'm sorry Ellis." he ran a hand through his shoulder length dark blonde hair, sighing and puffing off smoke. He then glared down at Nick. "Don't ya think it strange that they show up not an hour after this rat did? And he seemed awful nervous just before the ambush."

Ellis and Joshua exchanged a glance. The latter's eyes darkened noticeably and he glared at Nick, who was still on the ground, a purple bruise forming on his cheek below his right eye. "There's a goddamn tracker on you huh?" Joshua demanded, his fear for his little brother overtaking his timid nature. Nick didn't reply, staring down at the ground.

"I say we send 'im to his military buddies one damn piece at a time." Philo hissed, taking a combat knife he had swiped during the attack from where he had tied it on the small of his back.

"Hold on now." Ellis cut in. He was obviously pissed off and worried about Alec to such a degree that it almost took over every other thought in his head, but he wanted to be the voice of reason before his friends did something they would regret. Though his eyes narrowed into a glare when he stared down at the conman. "Do you know where they took Alec?" he demanded, his voice demanding no lies.

Nick swallowed hard, obvious shame in his green eyes. "No. I know where the nearest base is but that's it. I don't know where the testing facilities are." he muttered. "I didn't know for sure they had put a tracker on me but they obviously did." he glanced away, suggesting another lie. Philo hissed at that, tightening his grip on the knife. Joshua clicked off the safety on his pistol and Ellis glared hard, making the conman feel very small.

"Why would you do something like this?" Ellis whispered, itching to go look for his Hunter. Yes, his Hunter. Nick didn't say anything. Ellis let out an impatient noise, turning to Philo. The Smoker almost flinched at the emotions sparking in the hillbilly's blue eyes but stood straight and dignified like always. "Can you track at all or has all that smoke destroyed your nose?" he demanded.

"I... I can smell fresh scents. If we want ta catch up to them, we have to go now." he glared down at Nick. "What are we gonna do about that?" he motioned at the human. Ellis contemplated that.

"Tie him to a tree. His friends will find him eventually." the hillbilly made a noncommittal gesture though he felt somewhat bad. He shoved the thought to the back of his mind and waited as Philo tied Nick up with the straps of one of the rucksacks. He made sure they were secure, loose enough for Nick to breathe but not so loose that he could wriggle free with enough squirming. He motioned for the two humans to follow him and lead the way back the way they had come. They followed the trail of the soldiers through the forest quite a ways until they came to a highway. The trail ended there but some fresh skid marks told them which way they had gone. They were heading south as well. Ellis didn't want to stop once night fell but Joshua and Philo, working together, eventually got him to settle down and sleep for at least three hours. He was raring to go as soon as he woke up.

"We'll find him Ellis." Joshua said while Philo ran ahead to look for any fresh scents or signs of the soldiers or Alec. "If I know Al' he'll be putting up a hell of a fight as soon as he wakes up. They won't be able to keep him quiet for long."

"Thanks Josh." Ellis sighed, shifting in place as he paused to adjust the rucksack on his back.

"Over here guys." Philo called from ahead of them. He was bending over something, which, once they got close enough, the humans realized was the signs of a struggle. "It reeks of Alec and the soldiers. He must 'ave woke up here and they weren't able to stick 'im again before he fought back."

"Did he manage to get away?" Ellis asked hopefully. Philo sighed and shook his head.

"No, but look over there." he motioned to a charred patch of ground. Bones lay in it. "He took one down before they stuck 'im again."

"How many were there?" Joshua asked.

"A dozen at least." the Smoker hissed, hating the soldiers for taking his friend. "And if they were picked up in a vehicle, there were probably more." this made Joshua and Ellis both stiffen up. Alec was tough but even he couldn't take on that many at once and get out without being fatally wounded. Or get out at all. "We have to keep going. Look." he pointed to some footsteps in the mud beside the road. "They must have been dropped off 'ere to go to another vehicle." he lead the way down the road, his milky eye flickering all around them for any signs that would lead them on. They found more signs of a struggle after about five hours which told them the approximate time the tranquilizers worked. Or were supposed to. With how high the metabolism of a Hunter was it most likely wore off in three unless they injected more into its system before it could wear off.

The trio was forced to stop however when they came to a military blockade. It was heavily guarded by not only sentries but turrets. Bright search lights swept the road and surrounding forest, making Philo hiss and shy away even though the light didn't bother him as much as it did Hunters. They hid in the scrub, trying to figure out a way inside. Ellis had a strong feeling Alec was in there and he was determined to find out. The complex behind the thick concrete walls was tree stories tall. It was made of reinforced concrete and had small windows. So small that not even the tiniest Hunter could squeeze through to escape. From inside, the three could hear screams, screeches, wails, bellows, roars. Every sound that every Infected, special or not, had ever made. And they were obviously in pain. Even the stone walls couldn't stop the noise. "How in the hell are we going to get in there?" Joshua whispered from where he crouched behind a shrub. Philo shrugged from where he stood straight as a pole behind a tree and Ellis grimaced from his hiding place behind a bush.

"Luck 'as been on our side so far, aside from the recent incident." Philo stated. "There's gotta be a way."

"Maybe if we go 'round the outside, we can find a hole or weakness or somethin." Ellis piped up, glaring at the concrete walls. "We'll have to leave our stuff 'ere though." he didn't seem to like the idea of leaving their only form of defense in the forest where they'll most likely never find it again, but it seemed like the only way. The other two agreed to that, leaving their guns and rucksacks in the scrub. Philo kept his knife, knowing he would need it eventually.

They crept toward the complex, keeping out of range of the search lights. Moving slowly around the side, Joshua came through and found a small hole near the ground in the wall. It was just wide enough for them to slip through but even scrawny Philo had to do some wriggling to squeeze through the narrow opening. He retracted his long tongue into his mouth fully so that, should they get found out, he would be able to pass off as human easier. Especially since his hair hung over his remaining eye quite nicely. Just enough to hide that it wasn't a human eye. They had to duck behind crates and under tarps constantly as soldiers moved about but after a few painful minutes, they slipped into a door marked 'maintenance' and waited there for a while. "Now what?" Philo inquired, suddenly not sure now that they were inside. The noise from the Infected was noticeably louder now that they were in the building, and the Smoker obviously didn't like what he was hearing because his face twisted into a pained grimace. "This is just cruel. I mean, we were human at one point huh?" he looked at Ellis and Joshua for an answer, his milky eye swimming with several hard to read emotions.

"Of course Philo. If at all possible, we'll let all of 'em out. Maybe we can get some info out of 'em." Ellis replied in a reassuring tone. Philo seemed to brighten up some at that. He moved over to the door, cracking it open just as three soldiers marched by. He snagged them with his tongue, yanking them into the maintenance room and snapping their necks before they could make a single sound. He stripped them of everything but their boxers and passed the clothes that looked like they would fit best to Ellis and Joshua. They looked at him strangely for a moment before sighing simultaneously and pulling the uniforms on over their clothing. Now they would blend in a bit better. Ellis slid his hat under the uniform, eager to start searching.

"Just follow the loudest screeches." Philo sighed, leading the way quickly through the halls. Behind countless reinforced glass walls were huge numbers of Infected, both special and common. They all flung themselves at the glass as they passed, fury and obvious pain printed across their mutilated faces. Many were skin and bones, their faces more sallow than they originally had been. Several had fresh wounds on them, or had many needle pricks. Swollen body parts rendered others incapacitated, only able to growl as the trio passed. Others appeared near death. A lot of them were screaming in agony as various chemicals coursed through their blood streams. Ellis wanted to be sick and he noticed that Joshua was turning green.

"Easy Josh. It's alright." he muttered to the other. Joshua shot him a hard look, swallowing bile.

"How is this alright?" he demanded, forcing his voice to remain steady. "This is cruel. Inhumane. I mean, what have they ever done to deserve something like this?" he motioned to a Charger that was propped up against the wall of its cell with its large arm covered in serrations and needle pricks, blood and puss oozing all over it. It was almost dead, twitching occasionally from the chemicals in its body as they did things to it internally and hurt it.

"I didn't mean it like that." Ellis countered. "I mean that we'll do somethin to help these guys soon. We just gotta find Alec first."

"Good luck with that." said a raspy voice to their right. All three jumped, spinning to look at a Witch who was hugging her long claws to her scrawny form. "If you're talking about that Hunter they dragged in here kicking and screaming, they took him behind that door." she pointed with one talon to a metal door at the end of the corridor. "No one ever comes back once they go back there." she sniffled, obviously trying to hold back a signature sob fest. "Why do they do these things to us? A lot of us have never even gone near a human... so why?"

"Because we're smart." Philo said, one hand curling into a fist. The Witch looked at him, sniffling some, her pupiless red eyes sad yet angry, devoid of hope. "We can get ya out but first we need to get our Hunter buddy."

"Yeah, and get yer asses slaughtered." snapped another voice behind them. A Charger stood at the glass of its cell, propping its body on its massive arm. It glared at them harshly, obvious hate in its expression. "Those soldier bastards will shoot your ass soon as they look at you." it sniffed dismissively. "But hey, why should I care. I'm never getting out of here. Not alive anyway." it coughed harshly, spitting blood and bile onto the floor.

"Don't listen to him." another voice, this one strong sounded in the cell beside the Witch. Another Smoker stood there, obviously stronger than many of the others in the corridor. "He's been that way for the past couple days. I think he knows he's going to die soon." the Smoker moved closer to the glass wall, its long tongue wrapped around its upper arm like some form of funky bangle. "If you hurry, you can get that Hunter out before they put too much shit in his system." it nodded at the door.

"Thank you." Ellis breathed, dragging Philo and Joshua toward the door. They braced themselves, grabbing the pistols that had been on the uniforms when they had been stolen and sliding the door open. A barrage of screeching from Alec, some curses in the human tongue thrown in here and there, and yells and orders from the professionals trying to run tests on him hit the three hard and they had to catch their breath before they attacked. Alec was strapped down on a metal table, IV's of all sorts stuck in his arms. Doctors and scientists darted around, trying to avoid his scrabbling claws as they replaced one IV, and trying not to get bitten as they tightened a bond. Philo snatched one as he was about to stick Alec with another needle while Ellis and Joshua opened fire. Alec let out a startled scream as the scientists dropped like flies. Ellis ran over to him as soon as the coast was clear. Unlatching the bonds and yanking the IV's out of the Hunter's arms, he helped him sit up.

The Hunter was deathly pale, his breath coming in ragged gasps despite how much he had been yelling. He was shaking visibly his eyes foggy. He was obviously lethargic from the tranquilizers that must still be in his system, and had to put one hand on Ellis's shoulder to stay upright. Blinking hard, he seemed to come to his senses some, having been in survival mode while he had been restrained. Now that all the adrenaline had worn off, he was feeling the chemicals and drugs in him and it hurt. It was like burning and freezing at the same time, like he had acid instead of blood in his body. He felt Ellis pull him up and prop him on his feet, slinging one of his arms over his shoulder. He heard them speaking but their voices were muddled. Then he heard a siren. Blinking again, he noticed that Philo was fiddling with a computer in the wall. The sound of screeching gears assaulted his ears then followed by the triumphant screams, yells, and bellows of every Infected in the facility being set free. Now the only problem was them getting out.

_**Feel free to hate me for not updating in so long. You can blame the people I've been playing Left 4 Dead 2 with (though they're awesome) and my friend from Hemphill who came in Friday and just left today for the delay. I made the chapter longer just for you guys. And a new twist! And I know I got rid of Nick fast but he and Rochelle will both make another appearance. Also feel free to hate me for killing Coach. I don't have anything against him it just fit the story line. Reviews are awesome and I'm actually getting overwhelmed by the amount I've been getting. I'm not used to all the attention on one story.**_


	13. Bite To Break Skin

Separated

_**This song fits the entire story really well as well as this chapter. It also fits both Alec and Philo really well. Listen to it, I command you.**_

Chapter 13- Bite To Break Skin; _Senses Fail_

"How are we going to get out of here?" Joshua practically squeaked as the alarm blared. He took in Alec's form. His brother looked so weak it was almost painful. The scientists must have pumped more tranquilizers into him to keep him from thrashing too much. Either that or whatever chemicals they had put in him were taking a toll on his body. Philo and Ellis looked just as lost and scared as he was now that the Infected were free and the military was aware of their infiltration.

"Over here!" called the Smoker from a few minutes ago. He was standing at a turn off that would lead deeper into the facility. Philo ran over to Ellis, helping him support Alec as the Hunter tried to shake himself awake to walk. They walked him out the door as fast as they could with Joshua covering the back. "C'mon, this way." the Smoker urged, running down the hall, pausing at another corner to look for any approaching soldiers and wait for the other four to catch up. Alec, now that he was moving, was holding back yelps of pain but seemed more aware, his strength seeming to return.

"Wait for me!" called the Witch. She sprinted up to them, standing beside Joshua as soldiers poured into the corridor they had just left. "I'll help you from the back." she said, casting a glance at Joshua and sniffling some. She spread her claws like she was about to catch something, her eyes narrowing. Philo and Ellis urged Alec to move faster, not wanting to pick him up in case they had to drop him to defend while the Witch and Joshua covered the back. The Smoker waved them over, his milky eye sparking with fear and impatience. He lead them down a couple halls, avoiding most of the soldiers that were trying to contain the Infected. A couple times the Witch had to slice in to a few or Joshua had to shoot one, which made him want to puke. A majority of their journey was calm yet tense though.

As soon as they exited the facility, the Smoker lead the unusual group past the sentries and turrets quickly and into the forest on the opposite side from where they had originally entered. There was no hope of retrieving their things now. They made it a few miles before Alec's body convulsed and he dropped from Philo and Ellis's grip, curling into a ball on the ground. Luckily they were in the brush so they wouldn't be found. "Are there trackers on you guys?" Joshua asked, casting a nervous look back the way they came while Philo and Ellis sat down next to Alec, giving him some form of comfort with their presence. He looked between the Witch and Smoker, narrowing his blue eyes.

"No. They never thought we would escape so they never bothered. I'm Gregory by the way." the Smoker said, scratching absently at the mass of tumors that dominated the left side of his face. "This is Stefania." he motioned to the Witch who had settled in a crook of the roots of a tree near by.

"Stef if you please." she sniffed, rubbing her nose with one talon. Gregory rolled his eye and looked down at the other two. He had short black hair where as Stef had pale honey brown. They looked related some how, if not brother and sister than cousins at least.

"What about you guys?" he asked, tilting his head to one side, stifling a cough. "You got any names or should I make up my own."

Philo glared at his fellow Smoker, not in the mood for joking though he was normally the one who did all the teasing. "I'm Philo. This is Ellis, Joshua, and this sorry creature is Alec." he grimaced as Alec's entire body shivered as a wave of pain passed through him. "What is the military up to? All that didn't seem normal." Ellis and Joshua nodded to that, to busy trying not to cry at how weak and pathetic Alec looked. He was normally the one in their motley group to stand the strongest and act the toughest. They all knew it was an act, or most of it was. They knew Alec was just as scared as they were and didn't want anything to happen to not only himself but those he had come to love, respect, and trust.

"Its not. We were actually the first Infected." Gregory shook his head, ruffling one hand through his black hair. "We were experiments. Government guinea pigs." he sighed. "A few got out and Infected others and it spread from there. Though that was the original intention."

"What?" the three sitting by the Hunter gasped.

Gregory nodded as Stef sobbed behind him. "It was like how, in the south marshes are burned to kill mosquitoes before they can overpopulate. Humans were overpopulating the earth and the world leaders knew something had to be done before poverty and the like became the norm. They took a few humans from their homes and played with their DNA, gene codes, whatever. Eventually they got the 'Green Flu' or Infection. Whichever you prefer." he coughed a couple times. "After a while, we managed to regain some form of intelligence once the worst of the beginning effects of it wore off. But not all of us. Those that didn't were the ones to escape first. They just kept going at their restraints until they broke and they ran."

"That's how the Infection started? Because the world leaders wanted to do a control burn?" Joshua snapped, his eyes blazing.

"That's freakin horrible! Who in their right mind would even think of somethin like that?" Ellis practically growled, staring down at Alec's crumpled form. He was a Hunter, not human because of the world leaders, and now there was no way to reverse it. "What about the experiments that are still goin on?"

"That's to see if a cure can be found." Stef sniffed. "And to find out how we got our intelligence back. There's always a trigger of some form that kicks our minds back into gear."

Philo looked at Ellis. "With Alec it was ta protect you." he stated, scratching at the mass of scars where his left eye used to be. "With me, it was some form of internal hate of not being in control of my actions." he stifled a cough of his own and looked up at Gregory. "Is there any way ta reverse the Infection or are we stuck like this?" he almost hissed.

Gregory shrugged. "I don't know. All the Infected they used to try and find out died from all the chemicals that were injected into them before they could find out." he cast a morose glance down at Alec's shivering form, grimacing as the Hunter let out a painful growl. "I don't think he has very long. Look at how many holes are in his arms." he knelt beside Alec, gently lifting one of his arms. On it were half a dozen holes from the IV needles. His other arm was the same. "And his neck too." he motioned to two pricks in the side of his neck. "They put a lot of shit in him. Its breaking down his insides most likely." he shook his head. "I wish we could help you guys more."

No one answered that. Everyone was in shock over what the Smoker had said. Ellis was trying desperately to not cry over this information, wanting to seem strong in front of the others. He had to believe that Alec would be alright. The Hunter was too stubborn to kick it after something like this. But looking at his pale, almost gray face, the pained grimace that twisted up the four scars that spanned it... Ellis found it hard to hope. He didn't want to lose Alec. He had lost too much since the Infection. He had finally found someone who loved him genuinely for who he was and he didn't want to lose it. Ever.

"We can just hope and pray." Gregory said, moving back closer to Stef. The Witch was stifling sobs as much as she could to make it easier on the others. Joshua propped himself against a log, running a hand through his hair, stifling a whimper. Philo stood up and walked into the brush. He needed to think in peace, to vent his anger and sorrow. He knew the Hunter was stubborn and tough but there was only so much even he could take. Ellis remained where he was, gently running his fingers through Alec's hair, amazingly soft, while the moon hung directly above them. He could feel Alec shaking beneath his fingertips. The Hunter's entire body was tense as he tried to fight through the pain and get the chemicals out of his system. He was sweating as his temperature rose dangerously. His hands clenched into fists, claws digging into his skin and drawing blood. Ellis hated this and was slowly losing his mind as he watched his lover and friend suffer.

He felt something wrap around his fingers which had frozen in the Hunter's hair. He looked down to see that Alec had mustered up some strength and wrapped his hand around Ellis's fingers. Glancing around, he noticed that the others were asleep and that Philo hadn't come back yet. Leaning down, he pulled Alec's hand up, rubbing it against his cheek, feeling his feverish skin. Wrapping his other hand around Alec's he gently massaged the Hunter's fingers as he shook in his pain. "I'm so sorry Alec. I wish I could do more." he whispered, tears pricking in his eyes. Alec forced his eyes open and glanced up at Ellis, forcing a grin, trying to reassure him. "You don't have to be strong for me." Ellis said, looking away. "Just please don't die." his voice broke in the last word and he chewed on his bottom lip as Alec tightened his hand around Ellis's fingers slightly. 'I'm strong.' he seemed to tell him. He didn't have the strength to speak out loud but Ellis could read him well enough. "I know ya are."

Alec's eyes darted around briefly before he strained his free arm and pushed himself up some, collapsing with his head in Ellis's lap. He looked up at him now that he faced the sky and forced another grin, seeming to try and stop his shivering. It was getting cold and Ellis knew that it would only get colder as the night wore on. If Alec didn't die of the chemicals he would from hypothermia most likely. They all needed some form of cover and warmth. A freezing breeze that blew through the forest then proved that much. Ellis hoped that Philo would come back with some firewood.

He noticed that Alec had gone extremely still. This made his heart lurch some and he looked down. Alec's entire body was as stiff as a board and his eyes were sparking with some strange emotion that seemed to over take all his pain. He twitched his head slightly to the side, red eyes narrowing. Even with how much he was suffering he was still alert to their surroundings and something must have been approaching that he didn't like. Nothing in the brush moved though. A shudder passed through Alec's form and he turned his head back skyward. In the dark, Ellis couldn't really see how pale he was but his skin was dangerously hot, showing that his fever was still going up. And it didn't seem to be stopping any time soon.

Ellis jumped some as Philo stepped out of the brush behind him, his arms loaded with dry wood. He scuffed out a hole in the dirt and piled the wood there without a word, lighting it with a lighter in the uniform he was still wearing. The fire cast an eerie shadow on everything as it flickered and seemed to make Alec look even more sickly. Philo sat back, his hands folded in his lap, his tongue almost fully retracted into his mouth as he thought. He sighed and turned to looked at Ellis and Alec. "We gotta fight back." he whispered.

"What? What do ya mean?"

"The military and world leaders think they can do whatever they want huh? We need to prove them wrong." the Smoker coughed a couple times and turned his gaze to the fire. "There were enough smart Infected in that complex to make a small assault force."

"Philo no. That'll just get everyone killed. We can't risk any more lives."

"So what do we do? Keep runnin?" Philo demanded skeptically, clenching his hands into tight fists and puffing off smoke furiously.

"That's all we can do. At least for now." Ellis replied, keeping his voice even. He was remembering when Alec had told him to wait, to do nothing. At least for now that's all they could do. "There's no way we can take on the entire army with a couple hundred Infected. Smart or not." he sighed, shaking his head. "Besides, most of the ones in there looked close ta death." he looked down at Alec who was staring up at the sky through the treetops, his face a mask of agony.

The Hunter's eyes came back into focus to some degree when he felt Ellis looking at him. He blinked, forcing the pain away as much as he could. He would be strong, if not for Ellis then for himself. He knew the hillbilly didn't need protection but he didn't want to lose his mind to the pain. This was no worse then when he was first infected and his body was changing to adapt to his new DNA and altering his characteristics to fit his new breed. Using that thought as his medium, he snorted and forced himself to sit up. _"He's right giraffe-tongue... we... we can't fight. Not... now." _he managed to growl at Philo who was staring at him in shock along with Ellis. His entire body ached horribly but he would do his best to ignore it for now. He could feel his system processing the chemicals and it seemed like his body was changing again but he wasn't becoming human again. He felt that much. If he did change again, he hoped he could control it.

"If we don't fight then-"

_"I said not now." _Alec snapped, narrowing his eyes. _"I have to... kick whatever the hell they did to me first."_ as he remained aware he felt some of his strength returning though his vision swam some as he remained upright. _"We'll... figure something out." _he closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath to clear his head. Philo remained silent for a while before he sighed.

"If ya kick it. You should see how weak ya look Alec, you look worse 'n the commons." Alec didn't reply to that, he could feel his weakness and didn't know if he would survive the night. Though his strength was returning some, it was only enough to keep him upright and awake. He couldn't really do much else. If he turned his head or moved his eyes to look at something, his vision swam horribly and it almost made him fall over. Whatever they put in him it was doing a good job of killing him. Every inch of him hurt and he felt his insides twisting up and clenching and he felt like he was burning and freezing at the same time. That meant he had a bad fever. Hopefully it wouldn't make him go loopy.

He felt Ellis's eyes on his back but couldn't turn to look at him. So he placed one hand on the ground, feeling Ellis's hand slowly slide around it, tightening some as if the hillbilly was making sure he was really there. Forcing back a shudder of pain, Alec looked around him slowly. Joshua was slumped against a log a couple meters away, sound asleep but he was probably having a nightmare because he was twitching some. Over to the side on the other side of the fire he saw a new Smoker and behind him a Witch. His heart jumped at that, his system pumping adrenaline into his bloodstream as his fight or flight drive kicked in. Witches made him antsy. They moved fast and were more deadly than they looked. He had seen other Infected torn to shreds by one in ten seconds. Though he had acted bold when Ellis was with the humans in the sugar mill, he had been terrified. He had wanted nothing more to crawl into a dark alley and away from the huge amounts of Witches there just because he knew they were deadly in a way that even a Tank couldn't rival. True Tanks could smash others into pancakes but Witches... it was hard to explain. To put it simply, Alec feared the female fiends more than the Tanks.

Philo followed his gaze over to the newcomers and he forced a grin. "That's Gregory and Stef. They helped us outta the complex." he explained. Alec made no move to reply though adrenaline was still going through him, making him feel falsely strong. The Hunter watched as Philo's grin faded and his milky eye swept around them, pausing briefly on Joshua before he quickly looked away. It was no secret that the Smoker was crushing on Alec's older brother and that amused the Hunter greatly though it also sort of annoyed him. But he hand no right to get annoyed when the Smoker had witnessed the same thing between him and Ellis. "Alec you should really sleep. If ya wanna kick this, ya need yer rest." Alec knew the Smoker knew he may never wake up once he fell asleep but he was right. He could process the chemicals better while his body was stationary. The only problem was laying down with some form of grace instead of just letting his body collapse into the dirt.

But that's what he wound up doing as the muscles in his back twitched and gave way. Instead of his head hitting the dirt however, it landed in Ellis's lap again. Hard. Both him and the hillbilly let out a low grunt at the impact. Alec forced his body to relax in some form and closed his eyes, letting darkness sweep over him, praying he would wake up in the morning. Ellis watched him with concern dancing in his blue eyes before he eventually rested one elbow on his leg, placing his head in it and closed his own eyes. He hoped the Hunter would still be breathing when he woke up.

When he did wake up, the Hunter wasn't there at all. This immediately sent Ellis into panic mode. He sprung to his feet, looking around frantically and waking Philo up in the process from the sudden noise of his movement. It took the Smoker a moment to process that they were missing a key member of their group and he got up as well. "Where'd he go?" the Smoker asked, not really expecting a coherent answer. He noticed a line of footsteps and even some hand prints around the fire which suggested someone had been pacing on all fours. They looked fresh which meant that they probably belonged to Alec. It was a relief that he was still alive after everything that had been in his system, but the fact that he had run off without explanation worried the two. "I'll wake the others up. Take a gun and look around." Philo said, motioning to a sub-machine gun that they had stolen from the complex.

Ellis snatched it right away, searching the edges of their little camp and looking up in the trees. He noticed some deep gouge marks in the trunk of one. It lead up the trunk and he noticed another in a tree a few meters away. Alec had been in a hurry to get away if he had been that clumsy. What had those chemicals done to him exactly? Or what had he attacked and chased? Anything was possible. He followed the line of gouges in the trees for a while until he came to a thin stream. He noticed signs of a violent fight on the edge and leading into it. Blood was splashed onto the leaves of the bushes and ferns all around the scuff marks. He followed them until he found the body of a Charger. It was clawed almost beyond recognition but it looked more human than other Chargers. A mop of light brown hair was on its head, slicked down by blood. Its empty eyes stared up at the sky and its mouth hung open in silent scream. If Alec had been the one to attack it, he hadn't held back. Which meant he had gotten his strength back after a good night's sleep.

Ellis heard a low moan over to one side and slowly crept toward it. A Jockey was hidden under a half rotted log, gashes and bite marks riddling its entire body. There were chunks bitten out of its body in various places and it's left eye had been completely gouged out. This one also looked more human. It had black hair and a short round face but long body. It looked a lot like Alec which most likely meant that this was his other brother Patrick. He didn't seem to notice Ellis's presence, in too much pain from his wounds to really notice anything. He was losing blood fast and would probably die any minute. There was nothing Ellis could do to save him so he unloaded a couple bullets into his skull, ending his suffering.

Alec's trail ended there though. He must have taken to the trees again. Looking up, Ellis noticed a dark clothed form crouched high up in the branches of an oak tree, half hidden by leaves that still hung on stubbornly. "Alec?" he called, being careful not to make his voice too loud in case any other Infected were in the area. The form in the tree flinched and he saw burning red eye turn down to look at him. "Come down here."

There was a series of growls before a stern "No." could be heard and Alec turned away. Ellis furrowed his eyebrows at that, moving around the trunk of the tree to try and get a better look at the Hunter. But as soon as he was almost fully visible, he crouched and leaped into another one, hiding fully in the needles of an evergreen of some form. "Monster." Alec snarled, barely audible to Ellis from his position on the ground.

"No yer not. Alec come down here now." Ellis made his voice hard and commanding, noticing the branch move as the Hunter flinched. The needles of the tree rustled and Alec slowly slid down the trunk. His entire front was covered in blood that was slowly drying, making his clothes stiff. Something seemed different about him though. Ellis looked harder and noticed that Alec's fangs were longer, the top ones poking out over his bottom lip some. His claws were also slightly longer. His pupils had become cat-like slits but the irises remained their usual burning red. He also seemed slightly more muscled, especially in his legs.

Ellis took a step forward and a growl ripped from Alec. He seemed horrified with himself because he stumbled back, his back hitting the tree he had climbed down from. Ellis wasn't offended though, for some reason he knew that the changes in the Hunter weren't just external. He moved closer until he was in arm's reach and tilted his head slightly to the side. Alec seemed to want to melt into the tree but he shook himself internally and peeled himself away from the bark. He looked down at his elongated claws and closed his eyes. Ellis sighed inwardly and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around the Hunter. He felt him stiffen up at the sudden contact but relaxed as Ellis pressed his face into the side of his neck letting out a long breath. "I don't care what you look like. You're still my Alec." he murmured.

Alec let out a low purr and wrapped his arms around Ellis, being careful of his claws. "My Ellis." he purred, keeping his eyes closed. He was lucky to survive the night and the chemicals had in turn enhanced everything. Including his instinct to kill. The Hunter side of his mind was pounding furiously on the walls that held it back but Alec knew that he wouldn't hurt his friends and loved ones. He would never be able to live with himself if he did. He would get used to this. He had gotten used to being a normal Hunter and now that his strength, speed, senses, everything, were all enhanced tenfold he would be able to do anything once he figured out how to control it. It would be a work in progress though.

_**Yay! Done! I like this one, its very emotional. I just hope I didn't make anyone cry at the beginning. I actually almost did because I got thinking about what I would do if I ever killed Alec or Philo. I won't though. And credit goes to AlphatheWolf for the control burn/failed experiment thing. I had actually never thought of that until he mentioned it in his most recent review. Speaking of, reviews are appreciated and loved!**_


	14. Stand Up

Separated

_**I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Stef's full name means 'crown' and Gregory means 'watchful' or 'vigilant.' Stef's name is sorta ironic no? And oh my gosh, another song that fits the story and/or Alec and Ellis's relationship almost to the 't.'**_

Chapter 14- Stand Up; _Fireflight_

Ellis noticed that Alec was keeping his distance while they made their way back to the camp. The Hunter seemed extremely tense and the hillbilly wanted to know why but he knew that he wouldn't receive an answer from Alec even if he could say more than two words at a time. He would have Philo give him a once over and tell him when they got back. He knew that his Alec was still there and always be there but something other than the external changes to the Hunter seemed different. "There ya are!" Philo breathed when they stepped out of the scrub. "What-woah. What the hell happened to you?" he looked at Alec with an expression of pure shock. The Hunter looked away, staring at the ground intently. Philo took an experimental sniff at the air around him and drew back with a low hiss. "Yer changed." he practically growled.

_"No shit Sherlock." _Alec snapped, narrowing his eyes at him. Curling his hands into a fist, he felt his claws dig into his palm more than the had before. _"If you don't think I'm aware of that by now then you're slower than I thought." _

"Apparently the changes to ya came with a shortage of temper." Philo hissed, straightening his stance. "Ya still smell like a Hunter but... at the same time not. Like... ya smell more feral than that."

"Damn hard to do." Gregory said from behind them. He was standing near Stef who was trying to contain typical Witch sobs as much as she could. "We're gonna head down the road and gather up the smart Infected. If we can get enough we might be able to start a rebellion." he coughed, rolling one shoulder like he had laid on it goofy. "We'll try and keep in touch. There's more testing facilities in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. You know, the places with a whole lot of nothing in them." Stef stood up, wobbling some. She was thinner than most Witches. Alec narrowed his eyes at them and let out a thoughtful growl.

_"Wait a minute." _he growled, already backing into the woods. He quickly locked onto the scent of a rabbit that hadn't gone to hibernate yet and followed it. He dispatched it quickly, picking it up by its ears and carrying it back, trotting lightly. Even striding like that he moved faster than normal. The scientists had some intention for him other than finding a possible cure or finding out why he was smarter than most other Infected. Alec knew that much. _"Here." _he grunted, tossing the rabbit to Gregory. The Smoker caught it with a shocked expression, looking up at the Hunter curiously. _"You guys are scrawny. Eat it once you get a bit farther down the road." _he nodded his head to the south where Gregory had said they were heading.

"Alright then. Thanks. Hopefully our paths will cross again." with that, he lead Stef into the brush. An abrupt farewell, but in this day and age, there was really no time or room for formalities. Alec furrowed his eyebrows. He could feel the internal changes in him. He could take in deeper breaths and his heartbeat seemed stronger. That meant he could run or fight longer. He had felt the strength flowing through him when he had chased the Charger and his brother Patrick, who had become a Jockey, through the forest. They had tried to enter the camp. He had heard them talking about stealing Ellis and Joshua to eat. They obviously weren't intelligent, just happened to be in the area. Though he had still been in pain at that hour, Alec had gotten up, his want and need to defend those that he considered his through some possessive instinct over riding his agony. He had made a point of drawing out their deaths, leaving Patrick to suffer on the ground as he slowly bled out once he had dealt with his Charger buddy.

Suddenly, Alec felt the air beside him shift and he jumped back instinctively. Philo straightened up from his crouched position where he had tried to nail Alec in the head. "Yer instincts are stronger. Normally I would be able to club you before ya reacted." Alec snarled a wordless curse at him, his pupils narrowing some more. "What else changed about ya?" the Smoker inquired. Alec didn't answer, his flight or fight drive being stronger than it should have been. That showed that he would be able to take on a Tank and come out of it with less injuries than before if he was that tense around someone he trusted with his life and more. "Let's see how fast you've become. We need ta get all this down if a rebellion is gonna be started." Philo was fast but he couldn't run long. He could out pace Alec in a sprint but he would slow down quickly if his life didn't depend on it. Alec narrowed his burning red eyes, his lips pulling back in a snarl, showing his more elongated fangs. Philo pushed off the freezing ground, closing the gap between him and Alec in an instant but the Hunter reacted immediately. He spun and sprinted into the trees with more speed than he was used to but he was able to pick out where every tree was, where every possible root he could trip over was located. He was completely aware of his surroundings. And he left Philo in his dust.

An odd scent caught his nose as he skidded to a halt in the middle of the woods. He strained his ears, able to faintly hear Philo wheezing a long way's back. Listening around that, Alec concentrated on the otherwise silent forest around him. A freezing blast of wind carried the same scent to him and he growled, recognizing it. One ear twitched some as he heard someone coming through the brush and he crouched down onto all fours, his instincts driving him. There was something else dwelling in his mind other than his Hunter mentality now, and it was stronger than his Hunter instincts. Alec backed up, making sure to set his heavy steel toe boots down silently on the forest floor. He skulked up a tree, perching in a division half way up, hidden by needles. Nick stumbled through the brush, looking around fearfully. He had been following them. Alec didn't know what had happened after he had been captured but he knew that Nick had been left in the forest after he had lead the military right to them with the tracker on his body somewhere.

And of all the other people in the world to be with him, stumbled Rochelle. Narrowing his eyes, Alec listened as the wind carried the sound of Ellis talking to Philo to him. Ellis's voice then grew a fraction closer, showing that he was coming to look for the Hunter. Alec swallowed thickly. What would Ellis's reaction be to both of the remaining humans he had once trusted with his life showing up so close to their camp? He would wait and see, deciding to jump in if it got to be too much for Ellis to handle by himself or if Nick tried anything. Alec wouldn't put anything past the slimy bastard.

The Hunter had lead Philo in a slight arc so really he wasn't that far away and Ellis stepped into his field of view quickly. The hillbilly froze when he saw the two other humans before him. Alec dug his claws into the bark of the branch he was perched on to keep himself in place as his desire to protect Ellis kicked in sharply. Gritting his teeth together, Alec swallowed a growl as Nick deliberately moved closer to Ellis. Rochelle hung back some, obviously not sure how to proceed now that she was face to face with the one who she had knowingly left behind again. If she expected a violent tongue lashing she was sorely mistaken, Ellis wasn't like that. In fact, he just stood there quietly for a few agonizingly slow minutes before Nick spoke up. "You have to come with us to a camp." he said firmly, like he actually believed that Ellis would trust him.

"Like hell I will." Ellis snapped back with surprising fury and venom in his tone.

"Please sweetie," Rochelle said, getting her courage back now that Ellis had spoken. Alec commended her for her bravery but he planned on making both of them suffer later. "You're not safe out here."

"So you believe. I'm safer here than in any survivor camp." Alec watched as Ellis's stance became increasingly tense as both of the other humans moved closer. He swallowed a snarl, holding himself back until he knew he would be needed. "I don't belong in one of those anyway. I'm actually wanted and needed out here."

"By who? Those monsters you've tamed?" Nick snapped skeptically. A growl oozed from Alec then before he could stop it, making Nick and Rochelle both tense up. He noticed that his wordless growls were more guttural than before, and he was sure that his screeches would be more intimidating as well. As if they needed to be. "Ellis you're human, they're not. Not anymore and you need to come with us."

"So what? You can abandon me again? That's not gonna happen Nick." Ellis moved to turn away but Nick decided to be stubborn and strode forward. He took hold of Ellis's arm and yanked him back. "Let go of me." the hillbilly said icily calm. He was obviously aware that Alec was near by and wasn't afraid that Nick would hurt him if he didn't listen. Alec ground his fangs together, tearing off a chunk of bark as he forced himself to remain in his place.

"You're coming with us Ellis." Nick growled, tightening his grip. Alec noticed a miniscule pain cross Ellis's face and only then did he move. He dropped down from his position above the two, ripping Nick's hand off of Ellis's and throwing him back, making him smash into a tree hard. He fell on the ground with a thud, gasping for air. Alec put himself between Ellis and the conman, keeping a keen eye on Rochelle who now had a look of horror on her face. Alec growled lowly when Nick staggered to his feet, sweeping his eye over him to look for any visible signs of the tracker. But he knew how small it was so he didn't expect to find anything. "You again." Nick gasped, sucking in a deep breath to get the air back in his lungs. "I thought you were captured."

"Wrong." Alec snarled, curling his hands some into menacing talons, like the foot of an eagle. He watched silently as Nick pulled a magnum pistol out from his jacket, recognizing it as the one he had always had on him in New Orleans. He knew how powerful the gun was but with how enhanced his senses and instincts were now, he was confident that he wouldn't get hurt if Nick tried to attack him.

"Nick wait." Rochelle said, putting one hand on the arm that held the pistol. She looked over at Alec, seeming to draw some mental conclusion. "We can't force him to do anything and you know it. And its obvious that this Hunter is not letting him go anywhere." she looked fully at Alec and tilted her head to the side, her brown eyes thoughtful. "Are you the same one from New Orleans?" Alec growled but offered her a tiny nod.

Nick was either stupid, brave, or stupidly brave because he used the fact that Alec had his attention focused on Rochelle to fire a bullet into the Hunter's shoulder. Alec let out a loud screech, forced to take a step back. He felt Ellis's body heat behind him, and could sense how much the hillbilly had tensed up when the bullet had connected with Alec's shoulder. The Hunter glared at the conman and crouched to pounce. His eyes flickered around their surroundings briefly, noticing how easily he could use it to advantage. Leaping against the trunk of one tree, he ricocheted off another and landed behind Nick, slashing his back before leaping over him and into the brush. He exploded from the scrub a heartbeat later after turning around and pounced directly on the conman, driving him into the ground. He pounced off immediately, clawing his way up a tree and spinning on a branch, launching himself down again, sending Nick deeper into the leaf litter. He felt and heard a couple of the human's ribs cracked and growled sadistically. "Alec stop!" Ellis yelled suddenly as Alec pounced off and hung from a branch to launch himself down again. "Stop." he repeated.

"Why?" Alec demanded, his voice throaty. He felt his shoulder throbbing but ignored it, hanging by one hand from a branch and peering down at the three humans on the ground. Nick had yet to regain his breath and equilibrium, Rochelle had stumbled back at Alec's sudden attack. Ellis had moved forward some, now holding Nick's pistol which had gone flying from the conman's hands when Alec had first pounced on him.

"Don't kill them." Alec sensed a 'yet' in there somewhere. "Just... let's send 'em on their way." Alec narrowed his eyes at the hillbilly but gave him a sharp nod in agreement, pulling himself fully on the branch. "Get goin you two. I don't ever want to see ya again." there was a strong sadness and sense of betrayal in Ellis's voice which told Alec that the dam on the hillbilly's more depressing feelings had cracked if not broken. Alec glared after the two humans as Rochelle helped Nick limp away. He narrowed his eyes when he looked down at his arm, noticing that some of his blood had trickled down his arm and mixed with the blood that had splashed on him when he had slashed Nick's back. If any of Alec's blood got into Nick's wound then the result would be bad. It had felt like he was getting Infected all over again last night which Alec concluded that he now had a different strain of the Infection in him. No one was immune to him now which was why he was staying as far away from Ellis and Joshua as he could without seeming mean.

Letting out a low thoughtful growl, Alec turned his eyes down to Ellis, who hadn't moved yet. Sliding down from his perch in the tree, Alec stood beside the hillbilly, letting out a soft noise. Ellis slowly turned to look at him, his eyes cloudy with concealed sorrow and pain. He had been more effected by them abandoning him than he had shown, and he had cried himself to sleep. Had he really been that attached to them when they had been traveling together? If so then Alec really had no right to stop him from leaving if he really wanted to. "Can't there ever be peace?" Ellis whispered, closing his eyes. He was being unusually quiet as of late, which gave the Hunter reason to be concerned but at the same time not. Ellis would never lose his happy optimistic attitude, that was just who he was. But they both knew there were times to be happy and times to be serious.

"Maybe." Alec growled, his eyes flicking in the direction Nick and Rochelle had gone when he faintly heard a yelp of pain from the conman. Swallowing thickly, the Hunter focused his attention back on Ellis, frowning thoughtfully. He wished he could talk better but he still couldn't. Thinking back, he realized that he didn't find as difficult now that he was changed. Maybe whatever had happened had made him more human in some ways and more animal-like in others. Sucking in a deep breath, Alec looked down and furrowed his eyebrows. "Peace... will come... eventually." he growled, his voice raspy and breaking some. But it was clearer than his other attempts when Philo was still reteaching him. He was glad those night lessons had ended about a week ago. He honestly didn't know how much more of the humiliation he could stand as he failed to speak like a civilized person.

Ellis looked at Alec with an astonished expression, having never heard him speak that much at once. He was used to one or two words at a time, not a full sentence like that. Stepping forward, he watched as Alec tensed up noticeably. "Yer not gonna hurt me. What are ya so scared of?"

Alec growled to himself. "You're... not... immune."

"Yes I-"

"To me." Alec finished after some silent growls. Ellis looked at him closer, noticing that instead of his skin being pale like it had before, it had taken on some color but he still looked somewhat pale as compared to humans. With his longer claws, fangs, and now cat-like red eyes, Ellis believed that he had in fact changed but he had never thought that the Infection in him had changed too. If it had, then both Ellis and Joshua were at risk. But that thought didn't concern the hillbilly like it should have. He loved Alec, and nothing would ever change that. In fact, sometimes he thought that the human-Infected gap between the two of them was too much. While he would never ask Alec to change for him, he wished that he was still human sometimes. And if not Alec being human then Ellis wished to be Infected so that he could have something in common with the Hunter instead of just the depressing fact that they had both been abandoned by family or friends.

Ellis sucked in a deep breath, fixing Alec with an intense look through bright blue eyes. "Ya know, I really can't bring myself to care." he stated simply, moving closer. Alec looked at Ellis a bit apprehensively but didn't move back when Ellis stopped a few inches from him, looking up at the slightly taller Hunter with an odd look in his eyes. "Yer still mine, no matter the changes. I thought we already covered this." Alec swallowed thickly, blinking a couple times.

"...I know." Alec sighed, reveling in how much easier it was for him to speak. He could still feel the stronger blood-lust but it seemed the closer he was to Ellis the more in control he was. He drew strength from the relationship and closeness he had with the hillbilly, and he was eternally grateful to him for staying near him so long. But once he thought about it his mind conjured up the thought that Ellis was only hanging around him and Philo because he owed them a debt and he was safe. Shaking that thought off quickly, Alec let out a soft purr, enjoying the closeness and the feel of the cold wind that blew around them.

_**I don't like how this one ended. Its too similar to how the last one did but oh well, I'm out of ways to continue this one. And you guys are either going to hate me or hate Nick for the part he'll play in a few chapters. And that was a dead give away... damn it. Oh well, review, they are very much loved and appreciated!**_


	15. Still Alive Portal

Separated

Chapter 15- Still Alive; _Portal_

"Ah goddamn it! Now of all times it rains!" Ellis grumbled, shivering under the freezing downpour. He heard Alec snarl from somewhere above him, either voicing his own annoyance or agreeing with his statement. Philo and Joshua remained quiet, though they shivered a little too as the rain grew slightly harder. Glancing around, Ellis didn't see any cabins or forms of shelter anywhere, which just annoyed him more. Looking up, he saw Alec shaking himself very much like a dog in a branch above the three on the ground. It had been a week since the incident at the military testing facility and roaming Infected had become almost nonexistent. That meant that Gregory and Stef were doing a good job of gathering them to prepare for a rebellion or war should it escalate to such a degree. "Hey Alec, feel like scoutin?" he called, not raising his voice any knowing the Hunter would hear him clearly.

"Sure." he growled back down, dropping from his place in the trees, almost slipping on the wet ground. He dug his heels into the peaty ground to regain his balance and looked at Ellis expectantly. The hillbilly sighed, shouldering his gun and leading the way into the woods to look for a cabin or cave. Anything would work. They were near a cliff so he figured something would show up sooner or later. They hadn't gone far when Alec grabbed his arm to get his attention. "Up there." he pointed up the cliff face. On the edge sat a huge estate like house. It looked in good shape, all of the windows in tact and it looked pretty sturdy too. The only problem would be getting up to it. Ellis knew that Alec wouldn't have any problems, having scaled the same cliff a couple times over the past week as they followed it south to look around the area. He also knew that the Hunter wouldn't mind carrying Ellis up. It was Philo and Joshua he was worried about. Philo could probably carry Joshua up but he got tired fast because the Infection had destroyed his lungs when it had turned him into a Smoker. It made it hard for him to breathe when he was running, fighting, or being more active than just walking around for a long period of time.

"Let's see if we can find a trail that'll take us up there." Ellis suggested. Alec nodded, scanning the cliff face for an easy way to get up there. They walked up and down it for a while, not able to find anything that looked even remotely like a trail. Ellis sighed, scratching his head under his hat. "The road up there is probably on the other side. Just our luck." he looked up the cliff again, squinting into the rain. "Let's get back to the others." he noticed that Alec was sniffing the air, a suspicious look on his face. The Hunter narrowed his eyes, the slitted pupils contracting some more until they were thin lines of black. "What's wrong?"

"Odd smell..." the Hunter growled, shifting in his place, the muscles in his legs and arms tensing some. The air around them grew tense but there was no sound other than the pounding rain and faint thunder over head.

"What like an Infected?" the hillbilly inquired, looking around as well. Alec shrugged, not sure himself. If he didn't know, Ellis knew he had reason to be tense and if nothing else scared. "Let's just go. Maybe it'll leave the area." Alec nodded, still tense but he followed Ellis as they meandered back to Philo and Joshua. Suddenly though, Alec grabbed his arm and yanked him back, hiding them both behind a thick tree. The Hunter peered around the side of the tree, drawing back just as fast, breathing in deeply a couple times. Ellis could hear something snuffling in the brush, and it was big. And getting closer. Alec grabbed Ellis, pulling him onto his back and scrambling up the tree. Looking down, Ellis saw something that looked like a small Tank snuffling along the trail they had taken into the forest. Alec sniffed at the air, a growl vibrating through him and his face twisting up in a malicious snarl. With a mix between a grunt of effort and a growl, he leaped over the Tank-thing, gracefully landing in another tree with Ellis clutching his back. He had ridden on Alec's back before yes, but the new speed the Hunter had since the facility was something else.

He swung them out of the tree when Philo and Joshua came into sight, landing on his feet and allowing Ellis to drop the two or three inches to the ground. "We found a cabin up the cliff. But there's no trail leading up ta it on this side." Ellis said. "And there's a Tank between us and the cliff now."

"Yeah we know. It passed through 'ere snuffling 'round like a dog." Philo said with a cough, shivering some from the cold rain that still pelted them. Ellis really hadn't even noticed it, too busy figuring out a way up the cliff and too scared of the Tank creature. Joshua sneezed beside him, sniffling. If he got sick then it would slow them down in their trek south by a great deal. They had to get to that estate fast before one of them came down with something. Ellis noticed that Alec was glaring back in the direction they had come, his upper lip twitching in the beginnings of a snarl, his eyes sparking dangerously with anger. They would worry about the Tank later though. If it was following them, then the rain should wash away their trails once they got up the cliff. "Let's get to getting then. This rain ain't lettin up any time soon." the Smoker said, peering into the brush as well. The two Infected sensed something off in the air. That alone put Ellis and Joshua on edge.

The cliff face suddenly seemed a bit more sheer and dangerous once they got right up to it. It was slippery, water running down the rocks and weeds and some small pebbles were clattering to the ground as the water trickled over them. Even Alec seemed a bit off put by it, but he didn't let it show too much. "So... how are we going to do this if you couldn't find any trails?" Joshua asked, rubbing the back of his head as he peered up the cliff.

"Climb." Alec grunted, spitting some water out that had dripped into his mouth. He ran a hand through his hair, turned black from the rain, brushing his bangs out of his red yes and squinting up the cliff. He looked at his brother, stifling a sneeze of his own as he inhaled water. "Philo carries you." he motioned to the two in turn. "I'll carry Ellis."

"Yer joking right?" Philo asked, wincing as a larger rock was forced from its place on the cliff and bounced to the ground. Alec gave him a 'do I look like I'm joking' look through narrowed eyes making the Smoker hold up his hands in surrender. "Alright fine. But if I fall, you get ta come save us." Alec grunted at that, turning to stare at the rocky wall.

"Like hell." he snarled, waving Ellis over. He swung the hillbilly up onto his back and jumped up to the first ledge which was a few feet off the ground. Over to the side, Ellis saw Philo shoot his tongue up and wrap it around a branch, using it as almost a grappling hook as he hauled himself and Joshua up after the Hunter and human. Alec scaled the cliff easily, dropping Ellis on the edge and moving down some, taking Joshua's hand when Philo told him to let Alec haul him up. The Hunter pulled his brother up the cliff, setting him beside Ellis and looking back down to see if Philo needed any help. It was a good thing he did at that moment because Philo's foot slipped and he started to fall. Alec leaped down, grabbing the trailing end of the Smoker's tongue and swinging it toward the cliff, making Philo smack the cliff hard but saving him from a painful demise five stories or so below.

"How... in the hell..." Philo wheezed as Alec took his arm and helped him haul himself up onto solid ground. "did _you _not slip?" Alec held up his hands, wiggling his fingers to emphasize his elongated claws which he had been digging hard into the dirt surfaces of all ledges he grabbed onto. Philo coughed a couple times, looking around. "Aw...! There's the goddamn trail." he pointed to the left, glaring at the offensive dirt trail that followed the line of the cliff, moving down some as it did so. Alec peered down the cliff, noticing that that was indeed the case. They just weren't able to see it from the ground. Whoever built this cabin or estate or whatever it was didn't want it to be found.

Joshua moved over to his brother nudging him. "Hey, this looks like the place dad built when we were real young." he said, narrowing his eyes at the estate. Now that they were closer, its true size astounded them. It was three stories tall, made of a mixture of brick and a sturdy wood. The side that faced out over the cliff was made almost entirely of glass, huge picture windows over looking every sunset each day. They could see portraits, expensive furniture and china and other nick-knacks on shelves.

"Yeah..." Alec breathed, standing up fully. Ellis watched as several various emotions flicked through the Hunters eyes as they all stood with him. Alec sniffed around the door, one hand hovering in the air while the other remained limp at his side. After a couple more seconds, Alec dug through an over grown potted plant and pulled out a key. It was slightly rusted but would still work. If Alec knew where a spare key was than that meant that this was in fact a home his and Joshua's father had built.

"Damn... haven't been back here since... Alec you were what eleven?" Alec shrugged, inserting the key and turning it, shoving the door open. The inside, while dusty, was untouched. "That would have made me twelve... A long time then."

"Ten years." Alec murmured, looking around. He walked up to the mantel that had some pictures of his family on it. Picking up one that had all all five siblings and their parents in it standing before an estate in a different location he closed his eyes. Ellis quietly moved over to him while Philo and Joshua explored some. Looking at the picture, he was able to pick out Alec and Joshua, still young children of maybe eight and nine. The hillbilly centered his eyes on the miniature Alec in the photo. Same dark chocolate colored hair, same straight confident stance even for someone so young. And the most brilliant green-gray eyes Ellis had ever seen. Alec grunted and placed the picture back on the mantel face down, obviously not wanting to see something from such a happy time. He put all the other pictures face down as well, not acknowledging Ellis's presence until that task was done. He then turned to look at him with his burning red eyes, so different from the green-gray they had been.

"Yo guys. I think ya should c'mere and look at this." Philo called from an over hanging banister that lead up to the second and third floors. Ellis exchanged a quick glance with the Hunter before they quickly made their way up to the third floor after Philo. Joshua was standing at one of the picture windows, a look of fear slowly taking over his face. Looking out the window, Ellis's heart almost stopped. Off in the distance they could see smoke, but not the forest fire type. It looked like a train was making its way toward the estate.

"The nearest town is two miles down the cliff. It has a station in it." Joshua said. "But that's no rescue train. The military must be trying to round up the escaped Infected." they watched as the line of smoke slowly stopped, listening to the pounding rain. "What are we going to do if they come up here?" Joshua turned to look at Ellis and the two Infected. Philo peered out the window with his milky eye narrowed. Alec shifted in his spot next to Ellis while the hillbilly rubbed the back of his neck.

Suddenly Alec moved from his place, stalking out the door, his heavy shoes landing loudly as he pounded quickly down the stairs. "What- Alec! What are you doin?" Ellis called, jogging out the door with Philo and Joshua hot on his heels. If the Hunter tried to take them on by himself, stronger and faster or not he would get slaughtered. They followed him as he stalked deeper into the estate. Joshua seemed to realize what he was doing because he jogged forward.

"We won't be able to get into there, its locked up." he muttered to his brother. Alec didn't reply he just lengthened his stride, turning a corner. The estate was truly huge for him to be able to move that fast and not cover as much ground as he should in a smaller home. They came up to a white painted metal door with a pad lock on it. Alec lifted the lock, running the pad of his thumb over it for a moment. He then took the index finger and inserted the long claw into the key hole, fidgeting around with it some before it clicked open. He shot a pointed look at Joshua who held up had hands in defense. "I've been wrong before." Alec snorted, removing the pad lock and pulling the door open. He fumbled around on the wall beside the door for a light switch, flicking it on.

Inside was a long room with rack upon rack of various weapons. Shotguns, machine guns, grenade launchers. On the back wall were two rocket launchers laid out on a table. Alec moved to the back with Joshua behind him while Philo and Ellis stepped in with awed expressions. The table with the rocket launchers had drawers that were locked. Alec grabbed a knife from beside the launchers and stuck it in the wood around the lock, wrenching it to the side. A sharp crack was heard as the wood broke and the Hunter opened the drawer. Inside were bullet proof vests, six stacked neatly on top of each other. "Where the hell did ya get all this?" Philo breathed, looking like he wanted to drool over everything on the walls.

"Dad was in the military." Joshua said. "Some special forces department that put him in a lot of danger while he worked for it... So he stocked up. There was more than this in our home in Florida." he waved his hand dismissively, taking the offered vest from Alec as the Hunter pulled a couple out. "We're going to need to keep these handy if the military comes all the way up here. The road is hard to find and you have to know its there and be looking for it to find it. But you never know." he passed the four vests that Alec had handed him to Philo. "Lay those on the couch in the den." he said, when the Smoker gave him an odd look.

"Alright." he edged around Ellis in the narrow room, retracing his steps to the den. The hillbilly watched as Alec grabbed one of the rocket launchers. Joshua paid him no mind, moving around and grabbing one of each kind of gun. He carefully passed them to Ellis, instructing him to go to the den too while he grabbed as much ammo as he could without dropping it all over the place. Alec followed him out of the weapons' room, flicking the light off and closing the metal door with the rocket launcher on his back held on by a thick strap. Ellis watched as he made his way back up the stairs, figuring out what he was up to as soon as he heard the echoing explosion of the military's train exploding.

"Will that rocket leave a trail?" he inquired as Alec came back down.

"No. There's an initial cloud of smoke when it launches but they won't be able to figure out where it came from unless someone saw it launched."

"That's impossible." Alec growled, tossing the used launcher to the side. "We're hidden." he sniffed after some silent growls.

Joshua nodded. "Yeah. The estate is completely hidden from the town and the road. It was meant to be that way because of the danger to our family if anyone found out where it was." he flicked his eyes over to Alec briefly as he growled at the word family but didn't say anything against it. Ellis was glad the two brothers seemed to be getting along with some form of civility now that they knew they could trust each other. Hopefully any spark flying between the two would be of the sibling rivalry sort but one could never tell.

Thunder rolled overhead, making Ellis jump some, not expecting it. "Storm's gettin worse. Hopefully it'll keep the soldiers in the town's borders for the night." Ellis said, shifting in his spot. Alec stepped a bit closer, but still kept his distance. He was obviously afraid of somehow infecting Ellis and Joshua, only getting within touching distance when he had to. He noticed that Philo was looking around, his milky yellow eye darting from the cache of weapons and vests and to the second floor balcony again. "What're you thinkin 'bout Philo?" the hillbilly inquired, noticing the thoughtful look on the Smoker's face.

"Well, I was thinkin... if the military comes pokin 'round here, then we should move all this stuff up to higher ground so we can get to it better." he replied, rubbing one hand along his scarred chin thoughtfully. "That way, we have a height advantage or we can grab it and run without riskin injury."

The other three exchanged a glance, realizing the sense in Philo's words. The Smoker was a lot smarter than he acted. They came to a silent agreement and grabbed what they could, moving it up to the second floor. The four neatly stacked all the weapons and armor against the wall, out of view from the ground floor, dedicating its location to memory should they have to come back here in a hurry to retrieve it. Once that was taken care of, Joshua took Philo and they moved around the estate, scoping out supplies such as clothing that might fit, rooms that would be easily defended if need be, and escape routes. Ellis and Alec moved around the ground floor quietly. Ellis almost didn't want to look at the expensive looking furniture and decorations wrong, should something happen. He never would have thought that rough around the edges, battle ready Alec and timid, kind hearted Joshua came from such a wealthy family. Let alone one who had access to such a disposal of weapons.

A sudden screech from Alec made Ellis jump. He spun around to see that Philo had snuck to the edge of the second floor balcony that over hung a couple doorways and connected to the fireplace on the ground floor that sat in the middle of the massive den. The path ran behind the stone fireplace, connecting to a balcony that hung over the front door and lead to several other rooms. The Smoker had snagged the Hunter and was dangling him a couple feet above the ground. The Hunter's arms were pinned to his sides and he was kicking and flailing his legs, screeching bloody murder. "Put me down!" he yowled, still kicking furiously.

Philo laughed but dropped the Hunter who landed on his feet and spun around. Alec growled, crouching and leaping straight up, landing easily on the banister and startling Philo out of his skin. "Ah! Don't eat me!" Philo yelled, jumping down the stairs three and four at a time as Alec leaped onto the rail and slid down following him, jumping off and almost crashing into an extremely expensive looking vase that was situated against the wall. Alec pounced again, making it short on purpose to make Philo shriek and kick his legs into high gear. "Help me Ellis!" he cried as he blasted past still at a full sprint. Alec flew over Ellis's head at the same time snatching his hat.

"Hey!" the hillbilly yelped. "Gimme back my hat Alec!" he shouted, chasing after the Hunter who let out a throaty laugh. Leaping again, Alec put the hat on his own head mid air, landing on all fours and kicking off a wall, plowing into Philo and rolling off him. Ellis pounded past the downed Smoker, chasing Alec down who let out a shriek of false fear and pounced up to the second floor balcony again. "You cheat." Ellis puffed out, stopping at the first step at the foot of the stairs.

"Too slow." Alec laughed, taking the hat of and waving it like someone would wave away a ship. "Come get me." he taunted, a mischievous gleam in his red eyes. Ellis huffed, taking the steps two at a time. He was almost within grabbing distance when Alec back-flipped away, landing on his feet on the rail, not unbalanced at all. He shook his head like he was disappointed, giving Ellis the opportunity to run at him. The Hunter yelped, leaping off the rail and leading Ellis down the hall, the hillbilly's hat still on his head. Alec lead Ellis up to the third floor which held all bedrooms and a second den which looked like it would fit better as a game room or a library. It looked like a library with the multitude of books that lined the walls. Alec blasted through that room, out the opposite door obviously remembering however much time he had spent here when he was younger. Ellis stayed almost within leaping and grabbing distance but he didn't make any attempts, knowing that Alec would be out from under him before he hit the ground.

Alec soon got cornered though. He had sprinted right into a large master bedroom with one of the massive picture windows that faced the sunsets. Against the wall opposite it was a huge emperor sized bed with a night stand on either side and a canopy over it. This had obviously been Alec's parents' room so many years ago. Alec scrambled to the top of one of the poles of the canopy, the wood squeaking in protest at his weight. Ellis was panting heavily by the time he stopped, leaning against the pole opposite the Hunter. Alec snickered, grinning madly down at Ellis. "Alright... now... gimme back my hat." Alec laughed, pouncing to the top of the other pole and sliding down to be level with Ellis. He took the hat off his head, replacing it on the hillbilly's while still holding onto the pole with one arm.

The lamp on one of the nightstands turned on suddenly, making both of them jump. Alec dropped off of the pole, looking at it curiously. A triumphant yell of "Yes! It still works!" from Joshua from outside answered the question that had spawned in his head. The entire estate ran off of a massive generator that was made out of illegally harvested uranium rods, strong enough to power a city about the size of Washington D.C. However radioactive it was, the only way it was a risk was if the generator were to explode, the chances of which were very slim. The sound of the heater kicking to life was a welcome sound to the still damp and cold ones inside. "Hey guys, I got the generator working!" Joshua called when he came back inside from the shed that housed the generator.

Alec and Ellis moved down to the second floor, watching as Philo whined to Joshua about Alec trying to eat him. The Hunter rolled his eyes, stepping onto the rail and launching himself down at the Smoker, landing right in front of him, popping up into a standing position and effectively scaring him. "Don't do that!" Philo yelped after he had stumbled over his own feet and fallen over. He puffed off smoke angrily, embarrassment written all over his scared face.

"Don't whine." Alec retorted, crossing his arms and raising and eyebrow. Philo puffed off more smoke, pulling himself to his feet and taking shelter behind Joshua's shorter by a foot or more form. Joshua looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow himself. With such similar facial expressions it wasn't hard to believe they were related. His burning red eyes flicked to the picture windows when lightning flashed close by, closely followed by a tremendous blast of thunder that made Ellis, Joshua, and Philo all jump, having not been expecting it. The ground rumbled some from the force of the thunder, making a hanging clock on the wall chime and the windows rattle. A massive storm was rolling in and it was getting late as well.

"The generator won't die like it would if it were electric." Joshua said, stifling a yawn. Alec let out a soft noise of agreement, watching as the rain outside grew so hard you could scarcely see the forest off the cliff side through the small stretch of trees that separated the estate and the drop to the rest of the forest. "We may as well rest up. I get mom and dad's old room."

"Was already in it..." Alec growled, narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"Yeah but I'm older so I get more say."

"Asshole."

"Dick."

"Chicken shit."

"Bed wetter." Alec hissed at that taunt, obviously not happy about something like that being brought up in front of Ellis and Philo, the later of which stifled a snicker.

"Pink blanket hugger." Joshua turned red at that. Alec snickered after clearing his throat to make his voice clearer as he spoke longer.

"I never had a hot pink blanket."

"I never said hot pink." Alec countered, a smug grin curling onto his face.

"Pony lover." Joshua snapped, jumping right back into their childish bickering.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Hey guys, cool it." Ellis said, now knowing he was older than both of them and chose to utilize that for once. "I'm older than both of ya so I get final say. _I'll _take yer parent's bedroom."

"But Alec sleeps with you! He'll win anyway." Alec stuck his tongue out at Joshua, who did the exact same. Philo sighed, moving between the two and smacking the backs of their heads, making their foreheads crash together. Both stumbled back, letting out almost identical cries and whimpers, clutching their heads.

"If it makes the childish squabbling stop, I'm the oldest here. So I'll take yer folks' room." he got inquiring looks from that. "I'm twenty five thanks. Yer what, twenty three?" he pointed at Ellis who nodded. "That makes Josh twenty two and frog-legs twenty one."

Alec growled at the nick name, still not liking it one bit. But he didn't protest against Philo getting the master bedroom, planning to kick him out some time in the middle of the night. If he was lucky, he could tie him to a tree without waking him up. He'd done it before and loved the reaction the Smoker had when he woke up a quarter mile from their camp tied to a prickly sort of tree with his own tongue. Giving his forehead a final rub, he watched as Ellis's eyes sparked with fear when thunder crashed overhead. He must be scared of thunder, probably having been left home alone at a young age during a bad storm or something. He would ask him later. Right now, he needed to plot his revenge on his brother for embarrassing him in front of the hillbilly.

_**Ah, a good end. I like this chapter, especially describing the estate. More will be explained in the next one I think. This one was sort of a filler, showing that even though all this bad stuff was going on, they could still relax and have a bit of fun. Oh yeah, KRenee made a spinoff that takes place right after chapter 13. Its called Changes and its really good. She captured Alec and Philo really well. Drop her a review but be nice. Also, go check out my friend AlphatheWolf's channel, he's got one on fictionpress and deviantart as well. Same names a believe. His stories are really good too but they don't get much attention. Drop him a review too, he deserves it. Review me too! I love them!**_


	16. Fight

Separated

Chapter 16- Fight; _Natalia Barbu_

Ellis shivered some as thunder crashed outside. It was extremely late, probably closer to dawn than midnight and he had yet to sleep because of the storm. He had been terrified of thunder since he was very young and he was home alone during a bad storm while his parents were at the store. He could feel Alec's back pressed against his own in the enormous bed they were in. The Hunter had tied Philo to the banister as the Smoker had headed up to the master suite and not told anyone until Philo finally managed to raise his voice enough to be heard. Alec had made it obvious that he had already claimed the master bedroom as his and Philo didn't argue with him anymore on the subject.

The Hunter still slept with Ellis, albeit forcefully, but he didn't face him, too scared of Ellis coming into contact with his elongated claws. The hillbilly flinched as thunder rolled across the sky again, feeling Alec shift some in his sleep. He wanted to wake him up and ask him to roll over but he was too terrified to move even though he knew it was just loud noise. The storm had been raging steadily since the sun had gone down, seeming extremely violent. That was most likely just because they had managed to bypass any bad weather since they had been traveling except the short time Ellis was in the sugar mill with the three other humans he once considered his friends.

He let out an involuntary squeak as lightning flashed extremely close and thunder screeched and crashed directly after. He could hear a small clock on the wall chime from the force of it, and the windows rattled. Pulling the thick blankets up further, Ellis cocooned himself further, pressing his face into the pillow. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, blinking and turning to find Alec looking at him with sleepy but concerned red eyes. "What's wrong?" the Hunter murmured, his voice slurred with sleep. Ellis watched as his crimson eyes flicked around the room, searching for possible danger but finding none. His question was answered when Ellis flinched with more thunder. Alec let out a mix between a sigh and a purr, propping himself up on his elbow. "Its just thunder." he growled, yawning, unknowingly baring his long, sharp fangs that even with his mouth closed, his canines poked out over his bottom lip making him look like an old fashioned vampire.

"Go ahead, make fun of me. A grown man bein afraid of thunder..." Ellis mumbled, squeezing his eyes closed. He felt Alec's eyes on his back, waiting for some form of amusement from the Hunter, even if it was just a half stifled chuckle. He didn't expect to feel Alec nuzzle his neck, letting out a soft purr.

"You're human... humans have fear." he murmured, his fangs brushing against Ellis's skin some. His voice, now that he spoke more, was soft, smooth, and about as deep as Nick's, though the comparison was bad. But it had more of a rumble that would either put anyone at ease or make them wary if Alec's appearance wasn't enough.

"What about you?" he asked as Alec slid one arm under one of Ellis's pressing his clawed hand against his chest, feeling his erratic heartbeat. Alec let out a thoughtful growl, seeming to have to think about it.

"You getting hurt." he finally answered. Ellis should have known. The Hunter was always making sure he was safe and happy in any way he could even though he knew that in the world they now lived in, doing both at the same time would be almost impossible. So he settled for at least keeping him safe. He felt Alec puff out a sigh against his neck and he pulled away. Ellis blinked, sitting up and looked at the Hunter, who was studying the quilt that covered both of them with his eyebrows furrowed. "Why...why do you stay?" he asked, almost seeming to talk to himself more than Ellis.

"What do ya mean?" Ellis asked, his stomach flipping as more thunder could be heard. Alec glanced up at him, not seeming to know how to answer. He turned his gaze to the picture windows, watching the rain that fell so hard that it was almost impossible to see to the cliff side. "Alec I stay because I want to." Ellis said finally, moving a bit closer. "I love you, you know that don't you." Alec nodded, still not looking at him. "You, and Philo and Josh make me feel more wanted than Nick or Rochelle or Coach ever did. And I know I'm safe here." Alec looked down at his claws, fury flashing through his expressive eyes briefly before shame swamped them. Ellis could always read the Hunter through his eyes and he knew that Alec was angry about what happened, and ashamed of the dangerous changes that had been brought on by it. Greater blood-lust, no one was immune to him now. His claws were longer and more deadly, and his fangs were the same. While there were good things that had happened such as enhanced senses and strength, he still thought he was a danger to Ellis himself. "Alec, I don't care about what happened to ya. Yer not a danger to me or anyone else."

Alec looked ready to disagree but he stopped when he saw Ellis violently jump when thunder raged outside just as loud as ever. He looked at the hillbilly curiously. So he was afraid of thunder but not of what might happen to him the longer he stayed out in the Infected world. Their luck had to run out some time and if the rebellion that was sure to start soon didn't work, then Alec knew that things would escalate to a level that no one could fathom. They would truly know the meaning of fear then and there would be no way to survive as they had so far. Everything had to come to an end eventually and right now, they were at the climax leading to a possible downward spiral.

Shaking away those depressing thoughts, Alec pushed all his misgivings aside and moved closer to Ellis, sliding one arm around his shoulder and pulling them back down to the pillows. Ellis turned on his side, pressing his face into the dusty smelling shirt Alec had stolen from his father's oddly full wardrobe. They fit him nicely, the Hunter having grown up to be formed like his father, and being about the same height as well. Alec wrapped his arms around Ellis, pulling him closer, being careful of his claws. He could feel the hillbilly's heartbeat through his back as he shivered some to calm his nerves. He could feel Ellis relax until soft snores came from him. Only then did Alec fall into a light doze.

When he woke up, the storm had faded to a light drizzle with some distant thunder rolling now and then. Ellis was still pressed up against him, seeming very content. Alec purred softly, the raspy rumbling sound vibrating deep in his chest. Ellis drew in a deep breath, shifting some and pulling back, cracking open his blue eyes. The Hunter slowly unwrapped his arms from around him, sitting up half way as Ellis rolled onto his back with a yawn, obviously still tired. He got up anyway, stumbling his way to the bathroom that connected with the bedroom while Alec dropped off the bed and stretched feeling various joints pop. He made his way out into the hallway, slowly moving down to the ground floor from the third, looking around and taking in all the decorations that were on walls and laid on shelves and tables. He had never felt like he had come from a rich family, but that was probably because he never knew any other way except for sneaking away from the estate in Florida and going into the actual town where normal people lived. And even then he had never really understood that life could be harsh and cruel until his own father had shot him and left him to die.

From there, Alec had moved west until he had made it to west Alabama, doing what he could to survive. He slowly sank into the Hunter mentality of pounce and shred, taking pleasure in the feel of flesh tearing under his claws and the vain screams for help from his victims. When he had seen Ellis go flying down the hill after he had been punted by that Tank, so long ago, he had thought that he would be an easy meal. He had been intent on attacking him right off but the yells of fear and concern from the three humans he had been traveling as they saw him soar had held him back. Some part of his degenerated mind had told him to wait and see what would happen, then retrieve his meal. The three humans had argued about whether or not Ellis would be dead from such a hit, and if not the hit then the fall before Nick had gotten puked on by a Boomer. They were forced to flee or be overwhelmed. There was no way for them to safely return to find Ellis and the Hunter side of Alec had enjoyed that fact. But when he watched Ellis struggle to his feet, determined to keep going despite his injuries, he had changed his mind. He had decided to help him for a while and see what would happen but he quickly became attached, no longer thinking of the human as his pray rather than his responsibility. And then Ellis had helped him in return which just made him more attached. The hillbilly went from responsibility to friend quickly and that escalated from there.

Alec brought himself back to the present when he heard a cough from Philo as the Smoker made his way down stairs. He had slept past dawn for once in his life which surprised Alec but he didn't dwell on the Smoker's sleeping habits, making his way into the kitchen to see if maybe, just maybe, there were some un-perished canned goods or something in a cabinet. And if not that then some cardboard or something to gnaw on until Alec could hunt. His search came up with two cans of SPAM and some old, old canned green beans. Why a family with so much money at their disposal had canned food instead of the catch of the day or the freshest of the crop was a mystery to even Alec. Wrinkling his nose at the SPAM Alec placed it on the counter. If they got desperate they would eat that but he didn't think the green beans would be good so he tossed it in an empty trash can.

"Hey frog-legs, can I talk to ya for a second." Philo asked from behind him, standing a bit nervously in the doorway. Alec growled at the name but nodded, turning to face the Smoker who suddenly seemed to get cold feet. Alec tilted his head, sweeping his eyes over the Smoker's posture and expression, recognizing the gleam in his milky yellow eye right away. A huge grin spread across his face and he leaned against the counter.

"Go for it." he grunted, his grin forming into a smirk. Philo seemed caught off guard by the fact that Alec already knew what he was going to say, puffing off some smoke in his surprise.

"But what if-"

"Trust me." Alec interrupted as he saw Ellis and Joshua both come down the stairs behind the Smoker. Philo turned and followed Alec's gaze, his face turning a light shade of red before he quickly retreated to the bathroom that was down a small hallway that also lead to a linen closet. Alec rolled his eyes at the Smoker's more cowardly habits, sniffing lightly and sneezing at the dusty air of the house. If they were going to stay long, they would have to clean up or he'd be sneezing like there was no tomorrow. Sneezing again, Alec looked outside, watching the light drizzle. They were near Durango, which is where the train he had blown up the day before had come in to so if they could sneak inside the town's borders, they could get some supplies.

"Trust you with what?" Joshua asked, brushing past his brother to inspect the kitchen. "Is this all that was left?" he asked with a disgusted expression as he looked at the two measly cans of SPAM. Alec made a low noise in the back of his throat that most likely meant yes.

"Nothing important." he growled to Joshua's earlier question. He held back a grin at the knowledge he held of what Philo would hopefully be doing soon. If not soon then Alec would take things into his own hands. Joshua raised an eyebrow at that but shrugged.

"We'll need to get some supplies but the military is bound to be crawling all over the city. What are we gonna do?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Alec asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Or what rather." he cleared his throat and stifled a sneeze. Ellis frowned at that, not sure if Alec was referring to himself as just a Hunter or if he wasn't thinking of himself as a civilized person.

"Oh yes master of sneakiness." Philo coughed as he joined the three in the kitchen. "Show us the way oh pious one." Alec scowled at Philo's sarcasm but brushed it aside with a snort. He let out a couple growls that Philo nodded to, the Hunter obviously not able to speak enough to say it in the human tongue. "Alright, but we'll be on the outskirts. You had better screech if ya need our help." Alec nodded, rolling his eyes at the same time and brushing past Ellis and Philo, moving quickly up to the third floor and grabbing a jacket. It was cold and wet outside and he'd be damned if he didn't go prepared. He paused at their weapons cache and slid two hand grenades and a flash grenade into a pocket before buttoning it up. It was an old Navy pea-coat tailored to be cut off at the waist and it fit him quite nicely even though his father had been a bit broader in the shoulders than Alec had grown up to be. "Alright, let's go." Philo sighed, having explained Alec's infiltration plan while the Hunter had been grabbing a jacket. The other three already had one so they would be fine.

It didn't take as long as they expected to reach Durango and it seemed the military was concentrated in the interior which was a good thing for the motley group of four. There were several drug stores and connivance stores that should have something useful in them and they would search those first. Alec left Ellis, Philo, and Joshua on the outskirts, slipping past the town's borders and heading for the center. He could hear some commotion in the distance and he guessed that that was where the soldiers had set up camp. When the noise got louder, he slowed down, becoming more cautious. Peering around an old wood slat building, he saw several Hummers and other armored trucks parked on the road with soldiers milling about near some tents in a makeshift camp. The wreckage of their train covered the tracks, stopping any reinforcements from coming in to help should something happen. Alec narrowed his eyes at the group, counting at least thirty in his line of sight.

Sucking in a deep breath, he crept low to the ground toward one of the Hummers, pulling out one of his hand grenades. Jamming it up in the engine compartment, he pulled the pin and dashed back to his hiding place behind the wood slat building. He was going to cause as much destruction as he could while he was here. Anything to hinder whatever they were trying to do. The explosion that came from the truck blew the vehicle sky high. It crashed down a couple meters away from where it had been parked and the sudden noise sent all the soldiers into panic mode. Alec dashed around to the other side of the camp, pulling the pin out of the other hand grenade with his teeth and lobbing it into a tent that had at least a dozen soldiers in it waking up from sleeping in late. The entire tent went up in flames after the initial explosion. No one managed to get out. The Hunter sprinted into an old gas station that looked like it was being used for supplies, snatching a couple more grenades and grinning at the rocket launcher that was sitting in a wooden box. "Intruder! There!" someone yelled.

Alec growled, reaching into the wood box and pulling out the rocket launcher as soldiers piled into the building. He grinned, showing off his impressive fangs and placing his hand on the trigger that would send the rocket hurtling into the center of the camp, demolishing a good deal of it. "Blas mir einen arschficken." he cursed, using his knowledge of German to his advantage for a reason unknown to even him as he squeezed the trigger. The rocket hurled through the soldiers in the doorway and landed point blank in the middle, creating a huge explosion that forced Alec to dive underneath a table. When the noise diminished, the air was eerily quiet which told Alec that he had done his job and done it well. Letting out a low sigh, he crawled out from under the table and moved cautiously out of the gas station and back the way he had come, paying no mind to the dead and dieing.

He stopped in several drug stores and the like as he made his way back to the town's borders, grabbing all he could carry. When he reached where he had left the other three, he was immediately swamped with questions pertaining to the explosions. He quickly explained, sniffing indifferently. "Fuckers." he growled, getting odd looks from the others. They had never heard him curse to that degree before. Shrugging, Alec led them back to the estate quickly, keeping a keen eye and ear out for any signs of pursuit. None came and they made it safely onto the property and inside.

Alec ruffled a hand through his hair, shaking water out of it as much as he could and brushing his bangs out of his eyes. He deposited the hand grenades and the flash grenade at the weapon cache and took his coat off, hanging it off the banister to dry. To the side of the fireplace was some old dusty dry wood and he decided to light a fire since the heater wasn't working to full capacity after being inactive for so long. Taking some of the wood, he stacked it neatly in the fireplace, making sure the hatch was open and after dousing it with some kerosine, tossed a match inside watching the fire blaze up the chimney for a couple heart beats before dieing down. The heat from it was refreshing and he drew in a deep breath of the scent of burning wood.

He felt a presence behind him and turned to see Ellis standing by his shoulder. Alec offered him a soft smile while absently listening to Philo pace upstairs. There were so many scents, sounds, and sights that Alec hadn't realized were there before that he could now pick out that it almost made him nauseous. He had to actually concentrate on something now that his senses were enhanced to such a degree. "Philo seems awful tense today. Do ya know why?" Ellis asked, sitting down on a plush white velvet couch before the fireplace. Alec sat next to him, wrenching his shoes off, dropping them with loud thuds on the hardwood floor.

"Yeah. Not telling though." he replied, hiding a smirk. He could hear Philo pacing hard on the floor above them, the Smoker not having made it to the third floor before his nerves had gotten the better of him. He also heard Joshua cursing at a file cabinet that he couldn't find the key to unlock as he wrenched on it with a crowbar.

"Well, if yer smirkin about it then I'm sure its nothin bad huh?" Alec nodded at that, listening to the whoop of triumph from Joshua as the file cabinet opened for him. Alec and Ellis sat in companionable silence, watching the fire, listening to it crackle and also listening to the rain outside. Suddenly the air seemed filled with some tense feeling of dread though, making Alec get to his feet just as Joshua called down to him.

"Yo Alec, I think you should come take a look at this." the Hunter exchanged a look with Ellis who shrugged. Making his way quickly up the stairs to their father's old study, Joshua passed Alec a file to read. He quickly skimmed over it, his heart crawling into his throat as he read. He could feel ice trickling down his spine at the words he read, his mouth drying out and his throat trying to close itself off. "Dad wasn't in cancer research..."

"He created the Infection." Alec finished, looking up to meet his brother's eyes with a look of pure horror. _Well fuck..._

_**Oh ho... didn't expect that huh? Well, you'll just have to wait and see what I do next now won't you. And I know this one is awful short but its necessary to be that way so don't worry. Oh yeah, and the random bit of German that Alec spat meant 'suck my dick assfucks.' Just so you guys know. He has quite the colorful vocabulary in this chapter. Reviews are loved and appreciated!**_


	17. Pain

Separated

_**Oh... my... God... One hundred reviews... I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that this spur of the moment story would turn into something so phenomenal... And really its all thanks to my reviewers. You guys have been my inspiration so far and it will continue to be that way. So I must say thank you for everything and I hope you continue to enjoy this story. **_

Chapter 17- Pain; _Hollywood Undead_

"What are we going to tell Ellis and Philo?" Joshua asked, folding his hands together to stop them from shaking. Alec didn't answer for a long time... still skimming over the file in his clawed hands. So his father hadn't been in cancer research huh? He had been responsible for the hell they lived in now? Alec figured that it was all the better that he was dead.

"Nothing. They don't need to know." Alec growled, clearing his throat. He closed the file, ripping it cleanly in half even though it was pretty thick. He continued to shred the papers, making sure that there was no way they were readable. There was nothing helpful to them in it, nothing that would lead to a cure, or a way to repress the Infection. He saw no reason to keep the papers in tact. "It doesn't matter any more." Alec muttered, dropping the shredded paper in the waste basket under the large cherry wood desk that his father had sat at and done most of his reading and reports.

"Yeah, I see your point. Its too late to go back and fix it." Joshua looked at the floor. "But... dad had been determined to get us here to Colorado. He was either going to retrieve these papers or..." he trailed off but Alec knew what he was going to say. That their father, who they had both at one point looked up to, was bringing his own children to Colorado to be part of the experiments. Alec thought back to when he was kidnapped and held for that short time in the facility. They had brought him right to the testing room instead of putting him in a cage to wait until he managed to get out or it became his turn. Shivering some, Alec snorted, dismissing all thoughts on the subject. It was too late to change anything. All they had to worry about now was the rebellion, which was bound to start any day now.

Alec looked up, his red eyes meeting with Joshua's and he simply offered his brother a curt nod. Joshua seemed to understand the silent reassurance because he offered Alec a small smile, shaking all thoughts on the matter away himself for later reference. "Well, I'll keep looking through the files. Maybe there's something here that will be of use to us." Alec nodded, turning and making his way out the door and back down to the ground floor. Ellis and Philo were speaking on the couch in hushed voices, making Alec narrow his eyes a wave of possessiveness rushing over him. He pushed it aside quickly though. Philo only had eyes for Joshua and he knew that Ellis would never betray him, especially not with their best friend and adoptive brother.

Slipping behind a vase, Alec used his enhanced hearing to listen in. "But I just don't know how he'll react." Philo whispered urgently, wringing his hands together and puffing off smoke nervously. Ellis waved the green smog away with a cough. "Sorry..."

"If yer not sure, go to the one of the people who can tell ya how he'll react. I'm sure Alec can tell ya a lot." Ellis replied, waving the Smoker's apology away. "And if you don't want to ask Alec, as Josh 'imself."

"I can't do that... It'd be too awkward." Philo muttered, casting his single eye to the hardwood floor. Alec rolled his eyes at the Smoker's cowardly side, drumming his claws on one bent knee. "And besides... I don't think Alec'll tell me much. He's cruel that way." the Smoker had him there. But Philo had helped Alec when he had been nervous about telling Ellis that he loved him, so it was only right that the Hunter helped his friend out. Philo sighed, standing up. "I'll go find the damn leaper." Alec took that as a cue to scramble back up the stairs and make it seem like he was just coming down, walking casually.

In the back of his mind, he wondered if the two would love the brothers so much if they knew what their father had done. But then Alec figured that it didn't matter. If Joshua kept his mouth shut, they would never have to know and it wouldn't make a difference anyway. There had been nothing in the files that led to a way to reverse the Infection which told Alec that the Infection had been intended to be an indefinite thing way to cut down the human population. He shook himself out of those thoughts when Philo looked up at him with a desperate look in his milky yellow eye. "Hey frog-legs... I gotta talk to ya for a second." the Smoker mumbled, casting his eye to the floor. Alec hid a grin and let out a growl of agreement, leading him up to the second floor. Philo didn't know where the study was so he would never know that Joshua would hear everything he was going to say. Of course, Alec knew that he was interfering unnecessarily but he was getting tired of watching the two moon over each other behind each other's backs. "I... I think I love yer brother... but... I don't know how he would react if I told 'im." Philo sighed, running one hand through his dark blonde hair. "I mean... ya said you and Max were the only ones in yer family who were gay huh?"

Alec nodded to that, watching as Philo deflated, defeat taking over his features. "Josh is bi." he stated bluntly, watching as Philo stood up rigidly.

"Really?" the Hunter nodded again, letting out a soft sigh.

"He'll react fine." Alec listened to the silence coming from the study. He wouldn't even have known Joshua was in there if he didn't smell him and it was obvious that his brother had heard everything. "Be brave." Alec cleared his throat and grinned. "Teach yourself to say those three magical words." he watched as Philo's face turned a bit red and the Smoker playfully clubbed him over the head.

"Fine, use my own words against me why don't ya."

"Always." he heard something shift down on the ground floor, sure it was just Ellis moving around. But when he breathed in, and unfamiliar scent assaulted his nose. Narrowing his eyes, he moved closer to the banister, peering down and breathing in again when he didn't see anything. The scent was like an odd mix of a Hunter's and a Jockey's unique scents but it had a hint of something familiar in it. Philo apparently sensed something was off too because he shifted some into a slight defensive crouch.

"What is that?" he whispered. Alec growled and shook his head, not sure himself.

"No! Get off me!" Ellis suddenly yelled from the den. Alec let out a possessive, furious screech when he heard Ellis struggling and whatever had gotten into the estate growling. Sprinting toward the den with Philo hard on his heels. "Alec! Help-mph!" even at the high speed Alec was moving, Ellis and the stranger were gone before they came into view. Alec let out a furious roar, slamming one fist into the wall, his pupils narrowing further into thin lines of black. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Alec leaped down into the den and slammed his way through the door, following the trail of Ellis and the stranger. He was running on protective instinct now, nothing else mattered to the Hunter right now except getting his Ellis back. And killing whoever had taken him. Slowly.

He was forced to stop when the trail ended abruptly. Snuffling around, moving on all fours, determined to pick it up again. Sitting back, he listened around for any yells from Ellis, listening past all other noises in the forest. Faintly, he heard yelling and screaming, turning in the direction of it and taking off at full tilt still on all fours. The yells got louder gradually, and soon the trail picked back up strongly. Alec growled under his breath, pushing himself to go faster, leaping over the scrub and logs, flying over some Infected that were milling around, probably not having got wind of the rebellion yet. Or they were just loiterers. He heard Ellis scream louder, letting out a shriek of his own to announce his presence as he exploded into view of the hillbilly. Whatever had taken him was gone though, the ferns still waving from where it had gone.

With his sides heaving, Alec took in Ellis's condition. His clothes where torn, shredded in some places. He had one hand clenched around his jeans to hold them on, one side ripped clean open. The meaning of this made Alec's anger flare but he shoved it down forcefully when he saw the look on the hillbilly's face. He was terrified, shaking visibly his eyes brimming with tears both shed and unshed. Alec let out a low whine, moving closer to him, remaining on all fours to make himself seem smaller, less threatening since Ellis was obviously traumatized. Alec crawled closer, watching Ellis's eyes for any sense of greater fear or panic. The hillbilly was almost hyperventilating, his face pale and his entire form shaking.

Cautiously, Alec drew closer, keeping his expression calm and reassuring, hoping to see some form of recognition from Ellis. He shivered a bit harder, and leaned back some, a low whimper pulling from him. Hurt yanked at Alec heart, but he shoved it aside, crouching six inches from Ellis. Slowly, he rubbed one hand over his shoulder, watching his reaction. At first he flinched but then as Alec remained where he was, the panic in Ellis's eyes dimmed and he moved closer to Alec with a small hiccup. Alec sat down on the pine needle covered forest floor, cradling the other in his lap, nuzzling his neck some and purring. Ellis sobbed loudly into Alec's chest, one hand fisting in the Hunter's shirt. "It... i-it was N-Nick." Ellis gasped out after a couple long minuets.

Alec's entire body went rigid, fury flaring in him like a torch. It was all he could do to keep it pushed down to be able to understand what Ellis said next. "He... he wasn't h-human anymore... He looked like a Hunter b-but at the same time a Jockey." that left no doubt in Alec's mind that he was contagious again. Nick had been immune and there was no way he would have changed if he hadn't shown up with Rochelle on that one day. "H-He said that... that you didn't l-love me like you said." that erected a snarl from Alec but he cut it off when Ellis flinched. "And that he w-would make me h-his before the first snow." Ellis sniffed, hiccuped, and buried himself further in the Hunter's grasp. "I'm so sorry Alec... maybe if I had seen how he felt fer me in the first place... maybe we wouldn't be in this situation."

"Don't blame yourself." Alec growled, forcing it to not seem as angry as he felt. "Its not you... its him." Alec swallowed, his eyes flicking over the brush surrounding them for the telltale white jacket to show if Nick was still nearby. "He's lost his mind."

"Maybe if I wasn't such a simple southern boy-"

"Ellis." Alec snapped, not wanting to hear the hillbilly ridicule himself. "You're fine as you are." he sighed, nuzzling his face into Ellis's hair. "Stop blaming yourself." he couldn't even begin to express how happy he was that he could talk with so much more ease now. It seemed like every day it was easier, which it probably was but he was still limited as to how much he could say without it forming back into a growl or snarl. "Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked, realizing he hadn't yet and feeling mighty stupid for it. He felt Ellis shift, as if he wasn't sure himself. He felt Ellis shake his head but narrowed his eyes unwrapping one arm from around him. Before Ellis could react, Alec had pushed him onto his back and was thoroughly checking him. He found a couple bruises, a scrape or two and a small scratch on his right arm. He hoped that none of Nick's bodily fluids had gotten into Ellis in any way otherwise he would start changing and Alec believed that he should remain human. He deserved to have a semi normal life, even if they were constantly on the run. At leas human he didn't have to worry about constant blood-lust or being shot at.

Alec's heart thudded painfully when he saw a bloody bite mark on Ellis's shoulder. He sniffed at it, smelling no form of the Infection on it which relieved him. But if Nick had marked him in such a way then that meant he was determined to return. Alec knew he would have to fight him eventually and he hoped that eventually would be soon. The sooner he got Nick out of the way the better. Then at least he could have some peace of mind about Ellis's safety. As long as the former conman was lurking about, Ellis would always be in danger.

Letting out a low sigh, Alec drew away from the wound, looking into Ellis's eyes. There was a different form of discomfort in them now that his initial panic was gone. Alec noticed that the hillbilly was still holding onto his shirt at that their bodies were almost brushing against one another. He could feel the heat rolling off of Ellis but he didn't appear to be running a fever. The Hunter realized what Ellis wanted, but he was scared to give it to him. He felt Ellis's hand tighten around his shirt, and felt him pull himself up, his arms straining some as he tried to either pull Alec down some or pull himself up without tearing the Hunter's shirt. Alec relinquished after turning over his options in his mind and coming up with no way to make Ellis happy but get out of what he was about to do. He didn't want to risk hurting the human, and he also didn't want to Infect him in any way. So he opted to go with the third idea he had come up with.

He let Ellis pull him down, feeling their mouths meet in a closed-mouth kiss, Alec minding his fangs so he didn't slice Ellis's lips open. Leaning down like he was doing a push up, Alec pressed their bodies together, hearing Ellis let out a raspy breath. The Hunter ground their hips together, feeling Ellis stiffen some and hearing a low groan pull from him. Pulling his mouth away, Alec nuzzled Ellis's neck, puffing out a warm breath into the cold air as Ellis wrapped his arms around his neck, pressing their bodies together as hard as he could as Alec created more friction between their groins. He could feel his own body heating up as the want to take Ellis on the forest floor rose up in him but he held back the beast inside him, pressing himself into Ellis harder. The hillbilly let out a low groan, his head falling back but his arm remaining locked around Alec's neck. The Hunter growled as he felt himself growing hard, letting up on Ellis a fraction so that they would last about the same amount of time and he wouldn't be uncomfortable bringing Ellis back.

Leaning most of his weight on one arm, Alec reached down, rubbing both of their erections through their pants, letting out a low mur as Ellis moaned. A knot was starting to form in Alec's stomach and he let it, knowing that if he stopped it he would only last longer and he wanted to get Ellis home. It was still sprinkling some and it was getting cold. Pressing their hips together a bit harder, Alec ran his tongue over Ellis's neck, feeling Adam's apple bob some as he swallowed thickly, a groan dragging from him. He felt Ellis's whole body tensing up beneath him as Alec sucked lightly on the artery in his neck, letting his fangs brush the sensitive skin there. He felt Ellis's hands take a hold of his hair, tugging some as he groaned again. Alec increased the friction between them a fraction, knowing that it would be extremely felt by both of them. And it was. The knot in Alec's stomach got tighter and he knew it would let loose soon. If the almost painful grip Ellis had in his hair was any indication, it was much the same situation for him.

Alec ground his hips into Ellis's one more time before he felt the hillbilly stiffen up and a low groan dragged from him before he went almost completely limp. Alec followed him closely, a rumbling, sultry growl pulling from deep in his chest as he came. Both of them would be in need of new pants when they got back but that would be dealt with when they got back. Alec laid himself down lightly on Ellis, looking him in the eye as he evened out his breathing. Rubbing his thumb over the dried tear tracks on Ellis's cheeks, Alec internally scowled.

Couldn't Nick see that Ellis felt nothing for him anymore if he ever did? And if he did see it then why was he denying the fact that that was the truth. In Alec's mind it didn't matter what Nick thought. He was going to kill him one way or another for all he had done to hurt Ellis. From abandonment to attempted rape, that was unforgivable. Alec had been willing to let Nick live if he had just stayed away but apparently his stubborn attitude had gotten stronger now that he was Infected. "We should head back." Ellis breathed, studying the dark gray clouds above them. "But... can we walk?" Alec nodded, crawling off of Ellis and helping him to his feet. He stood shakily, on knee giving out. He had probably banged it hard when he had been initially taken. Alec caught him by his arm, looking at him with a thoughtful expression before he pulled Ellis onto his back, hooking his hands around the hillbilly's thighs to keep him in place. "I thought we were walking?"

"I am. You're not." Alec pressed one finger onto Ellis's wounded knee making him wince. He didn't say anything more in protest, he just wrapped his arms around Alec's neck and laid his head on the Hunter's shoulder as he started walking. Alec had chased them a long time before he had found them, maybe a couple miles. At a walk it would take about forty minutes to get back to the estate. Most of the walk was quiet. Alec was taking pleasure in the feel of Ellis's warm body pressed against his back, knowing that his contact with the hillbilly was limited because he wasn't immune to him anymore. That thought brought him back to the knowledge that his own father had created the Infection. How _would _Ellis react if he told him that his father was the reason for all his suffering? Would he not care? Or would he hate Alec for being born into the same family as the slimy bastard? The Hunter decided that it was probably best if he never knew, it wasn't like it would change anything.

Just as they came into sight of the estate, Alec sensed something off in the air. Sniffing around, he noticed Philo and Joshua both sitting on the couch, seeming content, happier than normal. That meant that Philo's confession had gone off without a hitch. But that wasn't what Alec was sensing. It was like a heavy fog was laying over the estate, like the calm before a violent storm. It was suffocating and put the Hunter on edge. Something was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

_**Yeah, it may seem shorter but its still in the three thousand word range that I always try and aim for. A couple unexpected things in here but I did that as a special thanks to my reviewers, people who have put the story on their alerts and in their favorites. Again I thank you all, it all means so much. And I hope that the awesome feedback continues! 'Till next time!**_


	18. Vox Polpuli

Separated

Chapter 18-Vox Polpuli; _30 Seconds To Mars_

It stormed hard again that night. Alec had gone out around sunset to make rounds, checking to see if the military or Nick were anywhere near the estate and he hadn't come back yet. It was around midnight when Ellis heard something moving around in the hall near the bedroom door. After his experience with Nick the hillbilly wasn't taking any chances. Grabbing an aluminum baseball bat, he hid it under the covers next to him, shivering as thunder crashed loudly outside. He kept his bright blue eyes glued on the door as it slowly opened, growing more and more tense as the silence, aside from the storm, stretched on. Then he recognized Alec's form as the Hunter slipped in, silently closing it behind him probably thinking Ellis was asleep.

Ellis watched his movements as he ruffled his clawed hands through his hair, shaking water from it before peeling off his jacket and moving into the dark bathroom to hang it over the shower rod. He probably did the same thing with his shirt because he came out of the bathroom bare chested. He had obviously been caught in the worst of the storm without any form of shelter because he even had to sit down on the floor to wrench his shoes off or risk falling over. The Hunter placed those in the wardrobe where he had retrieved his jacket and proceeded to peel his pants off, grabbing some fresh boxers from a drawer dresser near by. It was odd watching him dress in his father's clothes so easily when he seemed to despise the very mention of him.

He continued to watch the Hunter as he moved over to the window, watching the rain for a couple heartbeats before he turned half way to glance at Ellis who quickly pretended to sleep. He didn't hear Alec move closer so he jumped almost violently when the bed suddenly dipped beside him. Rolling over, eyes still closed, Ellis cracked one open to see that Alec was sitting on the edge of the mattress with his hands tangled in his hair. Something was bothering him, that much was evident in the way his shoulders were hunched and his back was bent. "I know you're awake." the Hunter suddenly sighed, a small growl mixed in. Ellis's heart lurched at the sudden vocalization but he sat up when Alec turned to face him. His burning red eyes were sparking with several uncertain emotions which made Ellis more worried.

"What's wrong Alec?" he asked, crossing his legs Indian style as Alec rested one elbow on one knee, propping his head in his hand. He shrugged, glancing out the window as lightning flashed brightly, making his slitted pupils contract some in the sudden light. "I know yer lying. You know how well I can read ya and that you can tell me anythin. Now what is it?" Ellis tried to make his voice stern but he just got an odd look from the Hunter across from him. Alec leaned back, clicking on the bedside lamp on the table to provide more light in the darkness. Ellis took in his appearance.

Aside from his muscled body in general, he was covered in scars, both old and fresh. A new bullet wound was situated just below his ribcage, meaning he had gotten a bit too close to a soldier for its liking while he had been inspecting the destruction he had caused in Durango. "Rochelle's around. Ran into her outside town." Alec snorted, his lip twitching in a barely hidden snarl. "Literally, ran into her." that explained the wound. Ellis took in his expression. He was mad, furiously mad, that she was so close to where they were. Especially since Nick was hanging around too. It was obviously that he didn't like either of them for what they had done to Ellis and wanted revenge.

"What did you do to her?" Ellis asked, narrowing his eyes some. He was only mildly concerned. Rochelle had been like a sister and a mother to him at the same time, the short amount of time he spent with them. Out of the three who had repeatedly abandoned him, he held the least animosity toward her.

"Nothing. I let her go her own way." he sniffed, sitting up straight and popping his spine some. "With Nick lurking, she'll last until dawn if lucky." he obviously also knew how close Nick was hanging around but was disinclined to tell Ellis so he didn't get stressed out or overly worried. More lightning and thunder filled the light silence that stretched between them, making Ellis shiver some at the loud noise. Alec shot him an odd look through red eyes before moving closer. "Still scared huh?"

"Yeah... I know its just noise but its hard ta shake. The only reason I didn't break down like I did last night when we were in the sugar mill was 'cause my mind was focused on getting the hell out of dodge. But now that things 'ave calmed down some... there's nothin to distract me from it." Alec looked at him for a long moment before moving a bit closer until their thighs brushed some. Ellis could feel that he was shivering some from being out in the cold rain, so he lifted himself into the Hunter's lap. Wrapping his arms around Alec's neck, Ellis leaned against his chest, resting his head on the Hunter's shoulder. He felt Alec wrap his arms around his waist and snuggled closer, listening to his heartbeat through the closeness.

"Can I... tell you something?" Alec said uncertainly.

"Of course."

The Hunter sucked in a deep breath, letting it out shakily. "My father... he... he wasn't in cancer research... he" Alec swallowed hard here, his heartbeat becoming faster. "He created the Infection..." Ellis pulled back from his relaxed position and looked at Alec. His eyes were shining with shame and nervousness. He wouldn't meet the hillbilly's gaze.

Ellis tilted his head to the side some. Did he care? Did it matter that Alec's father had created the hell they lived in now? He knew Alec and Joshua weren't their father, and he knew that they were both kind souls only concerned with surviving and protecting those they were close to. Letting out a soft sigh, Ellis leaned back against Alec's chest again, feeling the Hunter jump. "I don't care. Yer not him." he decided with utmost certainty. Alec's heart rate became more erratic in his surprise but his arms tightened around Ellis's waist, a deep purr coming from him. Ellis closed his eyes, enjoying the deep rumbling that vibrated from the Hunter to him. His mind wandered to several things at once.

In one hand he had Nick changed and at large, determined to take the hillbilly from the family he had formed. He remembered staring at the changed conman. His eyes were beady like a Jockey's but a deep red instead of pale yellow. His teeth had grown sharp but the skin around his mouth was rotting away. His hands had gotten larger like a Jockey's but had claws instead of blunt fingernails that had been chewed to jagged ends. He had been slightly bent over like a Hunter when standing on just its legs, but his shoulders had been more hunched. When he spoke, it would break into mad cackling or into a growl. It was like his body couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a Hunter or a Jockey. Ellis felt sort of sorry for Rochelle. If she got caught by Nick, she would be killed slowly more than likely. Ellis knew that Nick was a priority now that he was after him.

But in the other hand they had the rebellion which would be beginning soon. If their attention was divided between protecting Ellis from Nick's insane lust and the rebellion, then things could go wrong. Someone would get hurt that didn't need to be hurt or they would be killed. The thought of losing Alec, Philo, or Joshua almost made Ellis's throat close off as his heart lurched. He would never ask them not to fight for their right to live, but he didn't want to see them hurt or dead. He enjoyed the relationships he had with them, and would probably lose his mind if he was taken from them.

Closing his eyes, Ellis slowly dozed off to the sound of Alec's steady purr, relaxing into the Hunter's grasp. He hardly noticed when Alec laid him down, covered him up and left the room. The Hunter moved down to the first floor, flicking on a lamp. Joshua had set some files on the couch to read later and Alec wanted to look through them. Maybe there was a way to do something about the Infection. If not cure it then suppress it. Taking one off the top, he opened it and sat back on the couch, scanning through it briefly before closing it. Just more calculations and records on failed experiments. The failed experiments were important but not at the same time so Alec left that up to Joshua to find tomorrow. Taking another one, Alec repeated the process until he was about half way through the stack.

A noise from outside made him stop. Holding still, Alec listened closely to what was going on outside, one ear twitching some. It sounded like gunshots. Either Rochelle or soldiers were outside and they were being pursued. Maybe if they were soldiers, Alec could snag one and lock them in the basement to interrogate later. Moving to the door, Alec opened it, slipping outside and crouching on the porch. Rochelle was being chased down the drive way by none other than Nick. Alec growled at the sight of the former conman, narrowing his eyes and coiling his legs under him to leap. As soon as Rochelle had passed his longest range, Alec sprung from where he was and landed squarely on the hybrid Infected.

Nick let out a startled screech, tumbling with Alec in a mass of claws and teeth before they broke apart. "Heh heh, well lookie here." he laughed once he recognized the Hunter who crouched low to the ground with his lips pulled back in a snarl. His long claws dug into the mud and he shivered some under the cold rain, shaking some water out of his eyes and letting out a threatening screech. It rumbled some with a hidden snarl, adding to the intimidation factor and came from deep in Alec chest. Nick flinched some but held his ground. "Well, I guess I can, heh, take care of you now and claim Ellis as mine. Heh heh heh." he cackled madly for a couple seconds before leaping at Alec.

The Hunter tracked his movement as time seemed to slow around them. He watched the way Nick's muscles clenched as he prepared to land on the Hunter who stood up to his full height as the hybrid came crashing down about where his head would have been. Alec shrieked at him, noticing light illuminate the driveway, giving him a better look at Nick as he tried to dodge to one side, squinting his eyes in the sudden light. Alec crouched some and flung himself forward, watching as Nick drew back, trying to do the same move that Alec had done to avoid the attack. He was expecting it though and turned on his side, sliding in the mud and catching one of the hybrid's legs with his claws, dragging him to the ground.

The front door opened behind them, Alec heard it, and he also heard Philo cough as the Smoker came outside to assist. Nick took Alec's slight distraction to scuttle back into the darkness. Alec tracked him by his slightly glowing eyes, aware of everything around him, even Rochelle breathing hard on the porch where Philo had ushered her. Even the Smoker wasn't heartless. Alec growled as Nick tried to move closer to the estate, coiling himself to leap, watching him closely. Judging about where he would stop to jump on top of the porch, Alec leaped there and bowled into the conman. They both rolled down the slight hill that was on either side of the driveway leading up from highway leading out of Durango. Nick yelped as his back his a root that stuck up out of the ground and dug his claws into Alec's shoulders to try and push him off. Alec dug his own longer claws into Nick's chest, tearing long slashes in him and snarling sadistically as blood poured out of the wounds as he continued to shred. A sudden bright light made him stop, his pupils contracting as the light hit his face dead on and he was forced off of Nick and into the brush.

He watched with disapproval as soldiers came out of the brush from either side of the drive way, one helping Nick up. He listened as they asked the hybrid where he had gone, and scowled when he pointed right up the drive way. "There's two Infected and three humans, heh heh." Nick cackled. "One of the Infected just slunk off into the brush somewhere, heh heh, keep an eye out. He might, heh, try and attack you." Alec translated that into 'you're my only way to stay alive, so don't die on me.' On what planet would someone like Nick be concerned about someone else.

With his shoulders throbbing, Alec moved quickly up to the estate. He sprinted up the drive when he was out of sight of the soldiers, barreling through the door. "We have to go, now!" he panted, not stopping to acknowledge Rochelle, Philo, or Joshua. He almost ran into Ellis who was jogging down the stairs to meet up with the three down in the living room.

"What's wrong Alec?" he asked as the Hunter regained his equilibrium.

"Nick's leading soldiers up here." he coughed he inhaled some water that was streaming out of his hair. "Pack everything that can be carried, grab weapons. We need to get out of here." he looked down into the living room. "Philo, keep an eye on that." he jabbed a clawed finger at Rochelle who looked worn out and haggard. She was thinner than normal, her clothes were torn and she had some claw marks on one arm. Hopefully they weren't from Nick. The last thing they needed was another Infected after their blood. The Hunter, Ellis and Joshua all split up, packing clothes and weapons in some large hiking backpacks they had found in a closet. They were packed and ready to go in fifteen minutes and the soldiers were on the doorstep.

"They probably have the back covered too." Joshua said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "There's a passage in the basement. It leads off the property and into the sewers of the town. We can get out through there." the three around him nodded. Rochelle looked nervous and small from her place at the back. Philo was keeping his eye trained on her at all times, making sure she didn't try anything funny. So far she had only moved when instructed and hadn't spoken once. She was probably in shock or had sunken into herself from being on her own for the period of time she had been and probably thought she would be killed right away.

"Ellis, take Josh and Rochelle. Philo, come with me." Alec growled, moving in the direction of the weapons' room quickly. Ellis nodded, a bit confused and followed Joshua with Rochelle between them while he pulled out the bullet proof vests. He tossed two to Philo as the Smoker moved to follow Alec. The Hunter lead him quickly through the estate after slipping the vest over his head. He quickly picked the locks of the weapons' room and moved inside while Philo flicked on the light. "Take the other rocket launcher." the Hunter ordered while he dug in a drawer in a table against a wall. He pulled out several C4 units, holding onto them securely while also picking up a couple fuses. "I'm gonna go disable the generator then set the explosives. I want you to give me cover." Philo nodded mutely and picked up a machine gun as well once the rocket launcher was securely on his back.

"Where the generator?"

"Outside in a shed. It has uranium rods in..." he cleared his throat, switching over to using the Infected tongue. _"There's a way to move it underground so it doesn't leak or get destroyed in an explosion or fire. Once I get out there, there's a switch that needs to be pulled but the soldiers will be all over the place so if they catch me don't hold back. This vest only protects so much." _he snarled, placing the C4's in a bag with the fuses and jogging out of the weapons room. _"Move fast, I'm tossing a grenade in there."_ he growled, pulling out a hand grenade. Philo sprinted past him while Alec pulled the pin on the grenade, tossed it into the room and closed the steel door. He sprinted after the Smoker, hearing and feeling the explosion. The less help he gave the soldiers the better and destroying the extra weapons was the only way he could see to do so.

"Where do you want me?" Philo asked, his joking demeanor pushed to the back of his mind in the seriousness of the situation.

_"Stay out of sight. If I can see you, chances are so can the soldiers." _Alec growled, pausing in a hall way that was about in the center of the estate. He took out the C4's placing them on the ground and arming them. _"We have five minutes to do this. That's how long the fuse will last so keep your eye trained on me but stay aware. If you don't think you can hold them off and still get out, the just go."_

"I'm not going to leave ya Alec."

"So you'd rather get blown up?" the Hunter growled back in the human tongue. "Don't take stupid risks. There's no room for hesitation or mistakes here." once he was sure the fuse was set, he sprinted with Philo hard on his heels to one side of the estate. Alec paused at the side door, able to see the shed down a short path covered on both sides by over grown weeds and tall bushes that had once been decorative shrubs. Perfect places for the soldiers or Nick to hide. "Like I said, stay out of sight." Alec whispered to Philo, who nodded, tightening his hands around the machine gun. "Ready?"

"Go, we don't 'ave much longer until the C4's blow." Philo hissed, glancing anxiously back down the hall. Alec nodded, crouching down and sprinting forward on all fours. All was quiet until he was half way there then Philo saw the first soldier. Aiming the gun, he squeezed the trigger, letting loose a spray of bullets into the unfortunate human, watching briefly as he fell over dead. He then quickly moved to a different spot, knowing that any others in the area would have seen the light from the gun. He heard shouting and heard the tromping of heavy shoes as more soldiers rushed to their fallen comrade. Flicking his milky yellow eye over to Alec who had paused by the hedge briefly to get a feed on how many he would have to sneak by, he saw that he was almost to the shed.

Turning his attention back to the soldiers, Philo took aim again, dropping two more without releasing the trigger and moving to a different spot. The sound of crunching wood distracted all of them and Philo saw that Alec had kicked the shed door in, not having any time to spare to pick the lock. The sound of grinding gears and a motor starting up told Philo that he had pulled the switch that would moved the generator underground. Philo couldn't do anything as the soldiers surrounded the door. He was out of ammo and hadn't thought to grab another clip when they had been in the weapons' room, having been in too much of a hurry. "Come out of there slowly and we won't shoot you." one soldier commanded. There were about two seconds of silence before something fell on the ground at their feet, a hand grenade with the pin pulled.

Philo's heart crawled into his throat. Alec was too close to it to not take any damage and he couldn't move back too much with how small the shed was. When the grenade exploded, so did the entire shed and the group of soldiers. "Alec!" the Smoker cried, moving forward once all the debris had stopped falling. Some shattered wood shifted and the Hunter pushed himself onto his hands and knees, shaking his head to clear his vision. He had a couple shards of wood in his chest and back, nothing he couldn't handle but Philo was still mad. "How stupid are you? Do you have any idea what I woulda done if I had to tell Ellis that ya blew yer-self up?" the Hunter didn't reply, he just pulled the shards out of his body and stood up.

"We have two minutes to get away from the estate before it blows." he grunted, having been tracking the time in his mind while he had been moving. Philo pushed his anger down and sighed, tossing the empty gun on the ground and jogged beside Alec as he moved down the hill toward town. They would enter the sewers from the highway and hopefully meet up with Ellis and the other two humans. If not in the sewers than they would somewhere in the town which had most likely been abandoned by the military after Alec had rampaged through it with his explosives.

A massive explosion rumbled through the ground behind them, the sound piercing their ears painfully. They turned around to see the estate flying in pieces through the air, all the expensive memorabilia destroyed, as well as any evidence that would lead the soldiers or Nick to them for now. It was still raining some so their trails would be washed away, leaving no way for Nick to track them. Philo and Alec exchanged a look as something else reached their ears. A battle cry, and it was close. Dozens of Infected screaming their defiance from down in the town over the sound of gunfire. The military was still there and the Infected had taken their distraction by the explosion to attack. The rebellion had begun.

_**A cliché way to end the chapter I know. Oh, and just so you guys know, tomorrow I start marching band camp and it lasts a majority of the day. So between, sleeping marching and practicing my music I probably won't have much time to update. But I'll do the best I can, and hopefully update on weekends if not any other time. I'm aiming for one chapter a week at least. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I love reviews! **_


	19. Confession

Separated

_**This song has strong significance to not only the Infected in general but Alec's and Philo's state of mind. I'm gonna use a lyric excerpt to enhance that.**_

Chapter 19- Confession; _RED_

_'Wasting away is part of my instinct. I'll put away, everything I hate. Take this away, help me escape. Take this away, I confess. Innocence.'_

It didn't take long for Philo and Alec to reach the sewers and find Ellis, Joshua and Rochelle. The dark skinned woman looked like she was dragging some, her eyelids drooping and her hands shaking visibly. Alec sniffed the air around her, not smelling any Infection on her. She must have been injured internally instead of externally. Anything was possible when she had been on her own even for such a short period of time. She remained quiet, which the other four had no problem with as they trekked through the sewers. They had to get on the other side of Durango or they risked entering a chaotic war zone with the battle still raging on the surface. They could all hear it whenever they passed an open pipe that would lead to a house or store, and could feel the ground vibrate with who knows what.

When it seemed the battle was behind them, Alec and Philo rock-paper-scissored for who would go check and see if they were clear of the city. Philo lost so he begrudgingly climbed the ladder of a manhole they were standing by while grumbling under his breath. "All's clear." he called back down, pulling himself out of the hole. Joshua and Ellis went up next. Alec moved over to Rochelle who was slumped some against one of the dirty walls.

"Do you have internal damage?" he growled, not wanting to be nice to her but he knew that she had been nicer to Ellis than Coach or Nick so he felt he owed her some dept in that spectrum. Kindness repaying kindness in a way. Rochelle looked at him wearily and attempted a sigh, wincing. Narrowing his red eyes at her, Alec flicked on a flashlight he had in his pocket and shined it on her. Her lips were turning a pale color, and her eyes were foggy. She was fading and in a lot of pain. "I can help you up there."

"Why are... you being nice to me?" she winced and slumped some more. "I thought you hated me."

"You abandoned Ellis. Of course I do." Alec paused rolling a couple thoughts over before continuing slowly. "But... you seemed to be... kinder... to him than the others. I feel I owe you for that." he watched as she tried to focus on him trying to detect a lie. She was a strong woman with a sense of self preservation that was to be admired but there were limits to what everyone had. "Or I could leave you down here to rot." he shrugged, moving back and closer to the ladder.

"That... would be best. I'm not going to last much longer." she sighed, one knee giving out. Alec almost moved to catch her, taking a step forward as she fell to the ground. But when she curled up into a painful ball on the filthy floor, he decided it was best if he did leave her. She would be a hindrance to their traveling and survival and looked like she would die any minute. Though he felt a twinge of guilt, he climbed up the ladder, only acknowledging the inquiring look Ellis gave him with a sigh. The hillbilly looked morosely down the dark hole but didn't try and go down to get her to come with them. He knew by now that not everyone could be saved with a pep talk, no matter how much he wanted to help them.

"Let's go." Ellis said quietly, shouldering the large backpack that was stuffed with a couple blankets, some spare clothes and a weapon or two. Philo had one that consisted mainly of weapons while Joshua and Alec switched off on carrying the one that had the most blankets and explosives like hand grenades and pipe bombs.

"Where are we going to go?" Joshua asked, looking back at the city where the battles still raged. It appeared that the Infected and military were about evenly matched but the soldiers would run out of bullets before the Infected all died hopefully.

"Well, I remember Gregory saying that there were Infected testin facilities in Oklahoma and Nevada and such." Philo said thoughtfully.

"Yeah but the chance of runnin across one of those in such large stretches of land is unlikely." Ellis sighed. He looked from Joshua to Alec. "Does yer family by any chance have another estate somewhere?" he asked hopefully. The brothers exchanged a look, obviously trying to remember.

"Ah, in Michigan." Alec grunted suddenly. "On the lake."

"Oh yeah. But..." Joshua trailed off briefly thinking. "But it'll take forever to reach there with no form of transportation and its going to be a winter apocalypse there soon. No pun intended." he looked at Alec hopefully but the Hunter didn't have anything to contribute. "Wait Alec, weren't you taking helicopter flying lessons when you were like nineteen?"

Alec winced at that, rubbing the back of his head some. "Yeah, but I flunked out." he muttered, trying to think back to that time but he found that he could only clearly remember things from when he had become Infected to now. That scared him. If his memory was fading, what would happen when he lost his human memories? They were one of the things that kept him sane and civil, the thought that he had once been like the prey he had once thought humans as and that he couldn't kill them. He recognized family members and friends but all that was instinctual. Alec absently wondered if the same thing was happening to Philo, but then thought about the fact that the changes that he had gone through may have partially destroyed the human part of his mind. With how hard it had become to contain his more feral side, he wouldn't be surprised if that was indeed the case.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Alec concentrated back on his brother when he opened his mouth to speak. "Yeah but you know the basics right?" Alec offered a noncommittal shrug back in reply. He twitched some when he heard movement in the brush, listening hard but it was just an Infected running to the battle in Durango. It must have heard all the commotion and the explosion. He had to focus back in when Joshua spoke again, annoyed at how distracted he was. "What's wrong with you today? You seem awful distracted." he must have noticed that Alec couldn't seem to concentrate on anything for very long since he had rejoined them after the estate was destroyed. Joshua looked up at the still dark sky. "Have you slept at all?"

"No. Was reading files after I got back from making rounds." Alec shrugged again, his eyes wandering briefly to the forest behind Joshua before snapping back. He couldn't get distracted with the rebellion just started. If he had to go fight, then he couldn't be stopping in the middle of an attack to watch a butterfly float past or something. But it seemed like his mind kept wandering even when he was locked onto something.

"We need to find a place to camp out for the night anyway." Philo sighed, rubbing his single eye with a stifled yawn. Ellis and Joshua nodded while Alec stood there mutely, an odd scent floating to his nose on the slight breeze that came with the passing storm they were under. It wasn't raining any more thankfully, but it was still cold and damp. He brushed it off quickly. If it was a threat then it could follow them or go away. Either way he didn't care unless it came too close to him and his companions for his liking. He forced himself to remain focused, trying to convince himself that it was just his lack of sleep that made him distracted but didn't really believe it.

Ellis took the lead, not really going in any decided direction. Just away from Durango, that was all that mattered. Alec stayed close to him while Philo and Joshua hung back side by side. A couple times, Alec thought he heard laughter in the scrub, or a low growl or grunt. But when he paused to listen, there was nothing. He even moved up into a tree briefly to take a look around but he didn't see nor smell anything in the area. The odd smell from before was gone. What did come to him was the scent of a Tank, and the same one that had been in his and Ellis's path when they had found the estate in the first place. And sure enough, in the distance he could see, the Tank was lumbering in their general direction. It had probably caught their scent or heard them moving through the scrub.

Sliding down from the tree, Alec pointed that fact out to his companions, twitching as he heard it let out a low snort. "Let's go." he growled as the ground trembled briefly. It had probably rose up on its legs to look around for them. Alec lead them through the scrub quickly. It opened up to a pass which had the road paved through it. To one side, on the very edge of the road, was a sheer drop that lead to the swelled river. They had no choice but to go on it now with the Tank pounding along behind them and drawing closer. If one of them got smacked, they were screwed so they moved quickly and stayed close to the rocky wall.

It seemed like once they got far enough through the pass, the Tank lost interest and turned around. Or it had fallen. Either way, it wasn't behind the four anymore. They paused, catching their breath. Philo noticed that Alec, while he was panting just like the other three, was still alert, his eyes bright and flicking around in the dark. Joshua had been right when he had said Alec seemed distracted. Maybe he hit his head when the hand grenade had gone off when he had been cornered in the generator shed. Or maybe it was something else. The Smoker knew that it was a slight struggle to contain his own feral side, but Smokers always seemed like the most subdued Infected. He knew there was no way it was as much of a struggle for him as it was for Alec, who were _the _most feral of all the Infected. Even the Tanks couldn't top them when it came right down to it.

Narrowing his milky yellow eye at the Hunter, Philo checked his posture. He was stiff, his clawed hands curled slightly at his sides, his knees bent. His eyes were unusually bright, never focusing on anything for more than a heartbeat if that. A muscle in his neck was twitching some as he tried to hold back a snarl or try not to jump. Something was wrong with him. Philo delved into his own mind, remembering when he had first met the Hunter. He had been tense then, but his eyes hadn't been bright like they were now. He hadn't had to fight to not snarl or start at any sudden movement or sound. Then the Smoker thought about Infected he had seen before he had met up with the Hunter. The ones that had been Infected the longest, especially the common ones, they seemed more jumpy as well. Their eyes had been bright like how Alec's were, and they had attacked anything that came too close. Then they had started getting lethargic, throwing up anything they ate, and hanging out in dark areas, not acknowledging anything around them. Then they just fell over dead.

Swallowing hard, Philo prayed that wouldn't happen to himself or Alec. It was obvious the Hunter was starting to lose it, and he admitted he felt sort of funny himself in the mental sense. Philo just hoped that they wouldn't become dangers to Joshua and Ellis. Sucking in a deep breath, Philo pushed all thoughts on that matter to the back of his mind for later reference. "Alright, let's find somewhere safe to camp. I'd like ta get some sleep tonight." he watched as Alec started at the sudden noise, furrowing his eyebrows some and looking at Philo like he had appeared out of nowhere. Then the brightness faded from his eyes and he seemed to focus more, no longer twitching.

"Right." he growled, taking his place beside Ellis while Joshua hung back to walk beside Philo. The shorter man looked up at the Smoker, his blue eyes confused.

"What's wrong with Alec?" he whispered when the Hunter and other human had draw forward, looking for any large crevices in the cliff side or ways to get up or around it without going all the way through the pass.

Philo hissed under his breath, puffing off some smoke, worry etching his features. "I'll... I'll explain it later. When they go off to scout'r somethin." he nodded at the two in front. "I'm sure Alec can hear a majority of what I'm sayin so... just keep a handle on that thought." as if to accent his statement, Alec looked over his shoulder at the Smoker, raising an eyebrow, the motion pulling up one of the scars on his face. Philo waved him off, forcing a grin. The Hunter narrowed his eyes at him but turned his attention to Ellis when the hillbilly pointed something out.

Alec walked to the cliff side and lowered himself down, carefully holding onto the slippery rocks. The river was twenty or so feet below him and fast flowing, he didn't want to fall in. Ellis bounded back toward the Smoker and Joshua, seeming to be fighting a grin. "Alec's gonna check for any possible caves in the canyon wall. If we stay there, we can't be found by soldiers or Infected." Philo figured he was mainly referring to Nick, who was bound to be following any form of trail he could find.

"But what about escaping?" Philo inquired, tilting his head some but grinning when he heard Alec yelp out a curse as he slipped some on the rocks.

"Alec said the river goes down fast and when its down, its calm enough to swim. We can jump in that if we 'ave to." Ellis paused thoughtfully chewing on his lip. "That is, if he can find any good sized places there."

"A place where a tree fell away from the river flowing past it would be best." Joshua said, having done his fair share of exploring in the wilderness even before the Infection. "All the dirt that would be pulled away with the roots would make a nice sized hole in the ground. Or in the side of a cliff." he noticed the looks he was getting and shrugged. "What? Its kinda obvious." he stopped when he heard a wail from Alec on the side of the cliff followed by a splash.

"Shit!" Ellis yelped, running to the cliff side just in time to see the Hunter's head burst through the surface. Ellis watched, his entire body trembling as Alec choked on water but managed to inch his way over to the opposite side, grabbing onto an over hanging tree that looked like it would give way any moment. He hauled himself up, shaking from the scare of falling and the cold water. "Oh thank God..." the hillbilly breathed. "Are you alright?" he called as Alec shook himself like a dog to get rid of most of the water.

"For the record, I blame you." the Hunter called back, not really mad just shaken up. He pulled himself to his feet, holding onto a branch that was jutting skyward. "There's no way back across until the next town." he continued, coughing on some inhaled water. _"Philo you watch after them now!" _he screeched in the Infected tongue before switching back over. "I'll meet up with you as soon as I can." with that he turned and maneuvered his way carefully down the trunk of the tree and vanished into the forest.

Ellis shifted nervously, not sure how near the next town was. He looked at Philo and Joshua uncertainly before glancing back to the spot Alec had vanished. Joshua knew the canyon didn't end until it reached Silverton where it became almost like a delta, branching and ending along the railroad tracks. That was a long way to walk. He just hoped his brother would last that long on his own. He knew he was strong and could take care of himself but with Nick out for his blood in order to stake his claim on Ellis he wasn't safe. That was especially true with the military crawling around like cockroaches in the dark. The rebellion would just make things more chaotic and it would be harder for them to meet back up if they couldn't find each other in Silverton. It wasn't a big town, a simple mining community, but if the military was holed up there as well as Durango then they wouldn't be able to set foot on its boundaries. Following Ellis's gaze, he muttered a silent prayer for his brother's and his friend's safety as well as his own before following Philo down the road as he started forward.

_**Ugh, short I know. But my arms feel like lead and I'm sore all over. Marching is a bitch I can say that much. But I'm sure I'm not the only marching band nerd on here so, I'll shut up now. Reviews are nice and make good pain killers!**_


	20. The Last Firstborn

Separated

_**I really don't like how the last chapter turned out so I'm gonna try and redeem it here. Though I'm feelin like crap right now I'll do my best to write with some form of sense. Another sub-plot type thing is going to be briefly opened, but it may turn into something major. Depends on how well it turns over with you guys... so... Enjoy. Also I may start putting parts of the songs I use for chapter titles in the new chapters. Maybe, I dunno.**_

Chapter 20- The Last Firstborn; _Celldweller_

_'Live a life through Hell through a mortal shell asphyxiating smell for a crime lifetime imagination. Locked in a cell and the other firstborn, I see the same scene that must play over in your mind and now how much more I'm sure its fucked with your head just like its fucked with mine.'_

The next day, the sun was out for the first time in several days. Alec hadn't been able to find a way to meet back up with Ellis and the others even though he had followed the gorge for what was left of the night. The sun burned his eyes and he didn't have any way to shield them without a hood or hat. He was in one of his father's old button ups and the bullet proof vest he had slipped on. It was cold, and after his dip in the river he was pretty sure he had slight hypothermia but couldn't be sure. He had been mulling over what was going on in his head from the time he and Philo had escaped the estate up until now. The word 'degeneration' came to mind though the explosion from the hand grenade he had been forced to use at close range probably had a large part to play in his lack of focus and sudden urges to kill.

He thought back to something he had read in the files from his father's research on the Infection. It had said something about degeneration but it had also said that it didn't seem to happen in every Infected that the facility they had been created in had contained. Alec hoped that he wasn't one of those unlucky ones. The thought of him going insane and hurting Ellis or his other friends made him want to vomit. He puffed out a sigh, wincing as some sunlight glinted off the river twenty feet below him. The only reason he had fallen was because the rock he had used to balance hadn't been able to take his weight and had crumbled. It had thrown off his balance enough on the slippery canyon walls for him to plummet into the fast flowing water below. He had been lucky that a tree had been hanging over it because, as he realized as he walked, there weren't any more. He would have drowned if he hadn't been able to paddle to the side and climb back up if he wasn't crushed first.

Pausing, Alec glanced around, his instincts suddenly screaming at him. _Run fight kill._ His Hunter mind chanted in a morbid mantra. Growling, Alec shook his head, pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind. The last time he had thought like that was before he found Ellis and he really didn't want to go back to those days. They had been dark and filled with fear and blood-lust. Even though he still felt those, it wasn't in the same sense. He wasn't afraid of getting shot by a passing survivor any more, he was now afraid of his loved ones getting shot by soldiers. He didn't lust for the blood of any human, he lusted for the blood of Nick and everyone who had wronged him to be spilled on the ground.

Sniffing the air as a gentle breeze wreathed around him, Alec didn't smell anything out of the ordinary but his instincts were still raging, urging him to be on his guard. Deciding to listen to them for once in the past month or two, Alec kept an ear on his surroundings as he continued his trek downstream. The road had turned away from the gorge a couple miles back and chances were Philo was leading Ellis and Joshua along that so they wouldn't get ambushed especially with Nick lurking around. Chances were the changed conman had picked up some form of trail and was following it. Hopefully, he would lock onto Alec's and go after the Hunter thinking he could finish him off and then go find Ellis. If he didn't, Alec was confident that not only was Ellis perfectly capable of taking care of himself as long as he had some form of weapon, but that Philo and Joshua would keep him safe from the hybrid's lust.

_Danger danger run._ His Hunter mentality chanted, snapping Alec away from those thoughts. He paused again checking his surroundings without moving. In the silence of the forest, he could hear branches cracking somewhere to his left, away from the cliff. Scenting the air Alec smelled humans, three or four of them. Soldiers or survivors? That was one question that rushed through his mind. Others were something along the line of food. Shoving those away, Alec decided to ignore them for now and restarted his journey. The cracking branches seemed to follow him for some way but that was probably just coincidence.

The Hunter's mind wandered some, an odd feeling building in his throat. He stumbled some as that feeling intensified, realizing that it was his fight or flight drive kicking in and that his first instinct was to scream a warning. That scream built until it halted on the tip of his tongue, only needing him to open his mouth to be released and alert whoever was stumbling through the woods to his presence. Swallowing hard, Alec beat down his instincts as much as he could and walked a bit faster, almost jogging. After a couple miles he paused, the bright sun becoming too much for his eyes. Sliding into the shade of a pine tree, Alec slid to the ground, his breath a bit short. _Danger run. _

_Shut up..._ he felt like a nut talking to a voice in his head and once again 'degeneration' came to mind. Burying his face in his hands, he tried to focus his muddled mind. If he _was _in fact degenerating, then he knew that he wouldn't last very long. A week or two at the most. From what he had read, the Infected who did degenerate did so quickly. _What am I going to do if that's the case? _He mused, leaning back and squinting up at the sun through the needles of the pine tree. _What will happen to Ellis? And Philo and Josh? _Breathing out a soft growl, he lowered his gaze, looking across the gorge.

_All die all die. _His Hunter mind cackled, slowly taking bricks away from the mental wall that held it back. Nothing lasted forever, Alec knew that much. But he had thought he could control it longer. If he snapped around Ellis then he could hurt him or Infect him. Or both. That odd feeling built in his throat again, but this time it didn't feel like a scream, more like a wail. Again Alec held it back, noticing his vision blur as his mind wandered more. Maybe if he just stayed away from them until he was sure he could once again control his Hunter mentality then Ellis would be safer. No, that wouldn't work. It would just make the hillbilly worry about his safety and come look for him. _Danger run._

_Oh not this again..._ Alec groaned, lolling his head to the side as he heard branches crunch. Whoever was possibly following him was moving at a pretty good clip. Swallowing a growl, he frowned in the general direction the noise was coming from before turning his head away. After a couple heartbeats, the noise stopped but he could still feel the presence of whoever was there. He heard a soft click of a gun being reloaded, showing that they were closer than he thought. He heard another click and dove to the ground just in time because the bark of the tree about where his head had been exploded revealing clean white wood. _Who's shooting at me? Soldiers? _

_Run run! _

_For once I agree. _He cursed himself for conversing with his divided personality but scrambled to his feet and sprinted away, scrambling up into a tree and hiding in its thick needles. He could barely see the ground and his clothes were dark, blending with the shadows around. He waited there for the shooters to come into view patiently. If they were soldiers, he would do his best to kill them. If they were survivors, he would follow them until they reached the town and do his best to protect them. Whether or not they had tried to snipe him.

He forced himself to remain focused as four humans walked cautiously into view. Three males and a female. Narrowing his eyes, he realized it was a similar ensemble to the one Ellis had moved around with before. The humans varied in age, the oldest being a grizzled old man in green with a white and gray beard. The second oldest was a tattooed up balding guy with a mustache and beard wearing a vest. Behind him was a black man in a white dress shirt, a red tie loosely hung around his neck. At the back trailed the female, a pinkish red jacket zipped up over a white shirt. The dark skinned male was the one with the rifle that had almost take his head off. Alec almost growled at him but forced himself to remain quiet. They moved with the confidence of a group used to being together and in the environment like what they were in. They had obviously been traveling together a long time, probably since the Infection because Alec could practically see the bond between the four. It was nothing like the lack of relationship Ellis had had with Coach, Rochelle, and Nick.

He watched them pause briefly, muttering to each other probably wondering where he had scurried off to. Tilting his head to one side, Alec's eyes centered on the old man and the female. Those two seemed to be the most relaxed though the one in the vest seemed to just not care. The man in white seemed to be the perpetually nervous yet cheerful type. He couldn't really read them well from as far away as he was up in the tree. Alec ducked down as the female looked around, checking the treetops for any movement. His heart thudded painfully has he heard the branch he was perched on creak under him, praying it didn't break until they had passed. But it seemed that the group didn't plan on going anywhere until they were sure Alec wasn't in the area. _Perfect. _He growled to himself as the branch creaked some, splintering at the base. _Just peachy..._ he snarled as it cracked, swaying violently and almost throwing him to the ground before it had even broken. As it splintered more, Alec focused on more human thoughts, determined to remain concentrated and some what sane instead of distracted and dangerous. He also hoped they didn't open fire as soon as he hit the ground.

He fell with a startled screech, almost landing on the man in the vest. He heard the telltale sounds of weapons being drawn and winced, trying to look nonthreatening as he heard a shotgun be cocked and the safety click off of two pistols. "Don't shoot me please." he practically whimpered, keeping his voice low on purpose so he didn't startle them too much. But he heard them start anyway, a couple sucking in short breaths. He felt his mind trying to wander and mentally shook himself, locking onto the four around him and staying that way as much as he could.

"You're one of those smart ones?" the dark skinned man asked. Alec glanced up at him and nodded, swallowing an instinctual growl.

"Well then sit up kid." the old man ordered in a rusty voice, weathered from age and from hardship. Alec did as he was told, hearing the authority in his tone. "Are you aware of the rebellion?"

"Yeah, helped get it started." Alec grunted back, keeping his head low. _Kill eat run! _His Hunter mind yelled as the scent of humans wreathed around him.

_Shut up..._ Alec snarled back, blinking as his vision blurred some. He shook his head, sharply, focusing again as the female spoke though she wasn't addressing the Hunter himself. "What should we do with it?" she asked, seeming a bit more suspicious than the others. They wandered away from their circle around the Hunter who remained completely still, focusing on a beetle that was scuttling by instead of letting his damn mind go astray. He was starting to get a headache not only from the bright light around him but from his internal battle for control over his body. _I was here first. _

_I've always been here._ His other mind countered. _I'm who you are in your heart. _

_ You're wrong. You're not me you monster. _Now he really felt loopy since he was having a coherent conversation with his damn split personality. Though he knew all Infected had one, he had never heard of any of them actually communicating with the other personality. He didn't even think it was possible and scientifically speaking it really shouldn't have been. But Alec was aware that anything could and would happen with the way the world turned nowadays. He snapped out of his musings when the four humans centered their eyes on him.

"Where are you headed?" the dark skinned one asked. "I'm Louis by the way. This is Bill, Francis, and Zoey." Alec looked them over again now that he was closer to them, deciding whether or not he could trust them.

"Down river. To Silverton." he paused, his eyes drifting some to one side before flicking back to the humans. "And I'm Alec." he finished, deciding to just go with the moment. If they proved themselves untrustworthy then he would deal with them when he got the chance.

"Its kinda rare to see a leaper like you wandering by yourself. What happened? Lose your pack?" the man in the vest, Francis, asked, a bit sarcastically. Alec's mind traveled to Nick who had a similar way of speaking. But this man though a bit coarse just seemed to be trying to prove something that didn't need to be proved where as with Nick it had just been a personality disorder. Chronically mean and sarcastic. Then Alec thought over Francis's statement and realized he had used one of the names Philo called him which made him warm up to him some. Just enough to see the reason behind the coarseness of the statement.

"In a sense. I fell in the river last night, got separated from my friends."

"Were they headed in the same direction?" Zoey inquired, not seeming quite as coarse as she had before now that she had a name to go with the Hunter before her.

"Yeah. There were two humans and a Smoker. Easily recognized." Alec shrugged, pushing himself to his feet and dusting off his pants. "I should get going" his eyes flicked around some searching for any possible threats in the area that would provide a challenge for the four humans. The only problem they would possibly have would be a Tank and the only one he had run into in the past couple weeks was at the entrance to the gorge. They should be safe unless it had followed Alec and his friends without them realizing it. "I wouldn't want to be a bother." _Though the company would be nice... I apparently don't do too well on my own anymore. _He added privately.

"Oh you won't be. Travel with us, we're heading to Silverton too. We heard that's where the Infected are gathering and we wanted to lend a hand." Louis stated, his eyes shining with enthusiasm that reminded Alec of Ellis in a way. He couldn't help the slight smile that appeared on his face.

"Really? Well..." he paused, rolling a couple thoughts over. "I guess it might be smart to have me with you then. Without me you might get killed before you can explain yourselves."

_Kill. Eat. Run. _Alec ignored the voice for now, deciding that he would re-brick his mental walls during the night when everything was quiet and somewhat calm. The less distractions the better with the state of mind he had as of late. He focused on the humans, noticing that they were exchanging suddenly nervous glances. "May I ask why you're helping the Infected instead of the military?" Alec inquired politely, folding his hands behind his back.

"The military's screwed us over a few too many times." Francis growled, shifting his shotgun from one hand to the other.

"It seemed like every rescue ended in disaster so we struck out on our own." Bill continued, having remained vigilantly quite until now. "Its worked out better for us this way anyway."

"What about you? Why are you traveling with two humans?" Zoey asked curiously, placing her two pistols back in their respective holsters.

Alec shrugged. "To protect them. One's my brother, the other... well... Its complicated." _Not really but they'll find out eventually. _He figured there were things that they didn't need to know even though he wasn't ashamed of his sexual preference or his relationship with Ellis. Things like that would come later when he knew more about them. Taking a quick glance at the sky, he saw that noon had slunk by some while he had been standing there and swallowed a sigh. "We should get moving."

"Day's not getting any younger." Bill agreed with a nod, tightening his grip on his sub machine gun. "Lets go folks." he led the way down the gorge. Alec found himself walking at the back beside Zoey, who seemed to be limping some but she didn't complain. They made it about two miles before pain really started to show on her face. Alec didn't want to say anything and seem like he knew what was best for her when he had just met her but he was getting concerned. If her leg or ankle was twisted, fractured, or even broken it would heal wrong if not treated fast.

He didn't do anything until they had to make a slight descent down a slight drop. It was about seven feet, easily dropped once the humans lowered themselves down as much as they could. Alec simply dropped down, cushioning the fall on the balls of his feet. When Zoey dropped, she let out a slight yelp and fell right into the Hunter, her knee giving out. He caught her easily, being careful of his claws and set her gingerly back on her feet. "You're hurt." he stated bluntly, barely keeping a growl out of it.

"I'm fine, I just landed wrong."

"You. Are. Hurt. I've seen you limping." Alec ground out, narrowing his eyes. She gulped some, seeming to shrink under his burning red gaze. Bill, Francis, and Louis all looked at her with concern, probably having not noticed it.

"I twisted my ankle on a root a ways back. I'm fine." Alec growled at her, making her squeak some and try and step back on her wounded leg which gave out quickly and she fell ungracefully to the ground. She winced, probably having hurt her butt when she landed. "Alright, so I may have fractured it or something when I was jumped by that weird Jockey thing."

Alec frowned at that, his mind turning to the possibility that Nick had attacked the group. If he had, then the Hunter hoped that they had disposed of him quickly and not let him get away. He pushed that thought back for later reference and took Zoey's arm, pulling her up. Before she could protest, he had swung her onto his back and had his hands clamped firmly around her thighs and had started walking. She pushed away from his back trying to get away but couldn't so much with his grip on her legs. The three males jogged up behind him, Bill quickly taking the lead obviously having some strong authority over the rest.

Francis fell into step beside Alec and the young female, sending a glare her way that seemed more worried than just being nasty. "Zoey what have we said about you covering up injuries. I hate it when you do things like this." Zoey just sighed in return, stifling a yawn. She seemed more tired than the others. Maybe she had been the one on watch, if they did that sort of thing, during the night. Alec didn't know and he didn't want to ask. It wasn't any of his business. He just hoped they would reach the supposed Infected outpost in Silverton before nightfall.

He managed to keep his mind from wandering until sunset and they could see the town below them. He looked around for any glance of Ellis, Philo, or Joshua but couldn't see anything. He hoped and prayed they were alright and would be there soon. Bill continued to lead them, moving confidently toward the small town which had dozens of campfires going in it. Even Infected had to keep warm. When they reached the valley the community was settled in, a low growl rumbled from the brush to one side. A Hunter stalked out wearing a torn up dark purple hoodie and faded blue jeans. It had a deep scar across the bridge of its nose and its lips were pulled back in a deep snarl. When it saw Alec, its growl stuck in his throat, and it straightened up some but remained crouched. _"What are you doing bringing humans into our outpost brother?" _he growled, narrowing eyes at his fellow Hunter.

_"They wish to help with the rebellion. They hate the military just as much as we do. And this girl's injured." _he twitched his head toward Zoey who had dozed off with her head on Alec's shoulder. The other Hunter narrowed his eyes further, glancing over the humans with glowing red eyes. _"There's probably a Smoker coming in with two more humans." _

_"Hm... I will let the other guards know. Follow." _he turned and stalked back into the brush. Alec started after him immediately, no sign of fear anywhere. Bill, Francis, and Louis followed with light grimaces. _"You can call me Caden by the way." _Alec growled back to let him know he was heard as they entered the town's borders. Caden lead them to the center, remaining silent until he approached a Smoker with its tongue wrapped around its upper arm.

"Gregory!" Alec exclaimed in surprise.

"Hey Alec. Didn't expect to see you here. And... with more humans. Where's your other friends?" Gregory asked, looking around for Ellis Joshua and Philo.

"I got separated from them. They should arrive tonight or tomorrow."

"Ah. And I see you've mastered speaking huh?" the Smoker raised his single eyebrow. Alec noticed that Stef was nowhere to be found. She was either somewhere else in the outpost or dead. He hoped it was the former rather then the later. "Well, they're not the only humans here. Caden, take them to the buildings where the humans are staying please." Caden nodded, nodding his head to one side and stalked away. Alec followed closely with the three males right behind him. He felt Zoey shift some and heard her let out a soft sigh, obviously about to wake up. He imagined how much she would freak out when she woke up but didn't dwell on that thought very long. Caden pointed out the two buildings that had humans milling around them. They looked like old cafes and were in good shape.

_"There's an old doctor in here that can look at the female." _Caden growled, crouching outside the door of one of them. Alec nodded mutely, rolling his shoulder to wake Zoey up. She did so quickly allowing the Hunter to set her on her feet gently.

"Hope to see you again Alec." Louis said with a smile. "And I hope you find your friends." Alec grinned at him and nodded, not wanting to speak at the moment because he didn't trust his voice for some reason. Being among so many fellow Infected, it made him feel more feral and loopy than before. It was a self-confidence issue, he felt like he was the only one losing his mind but knew he wasn't. If he was. He might just have a concussion which was always a possibility. He had been hit pretty hard when the grenade had gone off. He remained in place until the four had moved inside before turning away to go explore the town.

_"Are you planning on fighting or just protecting your humans?" _Caden asked, stalking up beside him.

_"I don't know."_ Alec snarled back, centering his eyes on the ground. _"I... I don't know" _

_**Abrupt end but meh, oh well. I hope this one makes up for the crap the last one turned out to be. And I know that its impossible that the original four would be wearing the same clothes and blah blah after eight or so months but I couldn't think of any other way to describe them. And they'll pop up again. But next chapter may or may not be centered around Philo. Reviews are loved and nurtured and grow into blooming inspiration... ugh that was awful. But review please?**_


	21. Already Over

Separated

_**I forgot to say last chapter that Caden means 'little battle.' Hope you enjoy this one.**_

Chapter 21- Already Over; _RED_

_'My best defense, running from you. I can't resist, take all you want from me. Breaking slowly. I gave it all to you, letting go of me, reaching as I fall. Nothing left to lose, loving you again. I know its already over, already over now.'_

_'The world hasn't changed, there's just less in it' -Jack Sparrow; POTC3_

"Oh man..." Philo breathed as he looked down into a wide valley. In the center was a small town with a single paved street and several dirt ones leading to small one and two story homes. Scattered around it were numerous campfires and the smell of dozens of gathered Infected blew up to the Smoker. "Oh man." he repeated, feeling Joshua and Ellis's presence to his right. They had followed the road from the gorge once they had rested up after Alec's fall. Now, two days later, they had reached their destination after much twisting and turning through the mountains. "Its an outpost..." the Smoker said, stating the obvious but it felt appropriate.

"Do you think Alec made it this far?" Ellis asked, looking around the general area for any sign of the Hunter.

"Maybe he's already down there." Joshua replied thoughtfully, squinting at the small town. "Think we should make our way down?" he looked at Philo, his blue eyes swimming with concern for his lost brother. Philo nodded, moving down the road, his single milky yellow eye darting around for any possible ambushes from the scrubby bushes that were on either side of it now that the trees had thinned out. They didn't meet any resistance until they had almost crossed the town's borders.

Two Hunters and a Jockey leaped out of the scrub, driving all three into the cold concrete below them. _"Who are you?" _a Hunter in a torn purple hoodie snarled.

Philo coughed a couple times and sucked in a deep breath. "We're friends. We're looking for our Hunter friend." a strange light appeared in the purple hoodie'd Hunter and he let out a low growl. The other Hunter and the Jockey leaped off Ellis and Joshua and the remaining Hunter crawled off Philo, allowing them to stand.

_"Is he about as tall as you, dark brown hair, four scars across his face?" _the Hunter inquired. Philo exchanged a look with the two humans behind him but nodded. The Hunter let out a low growling sigh. _"He said he had friends coming this direction."_

"So you've met him?" Philo asked, noticing Ellis brighten.

_"Yes. He wanders around like a damn weeper, ah, Witch. And when he is still, he's asleep and has nightmares." _the Hunter sighed again. _"My name's Caden. Gregory had asked me to keep an eye on Alec but its hard to do that and patrol with how he wanders." _

"Gregory's here?" Philo asked after translating for Ellis and Joshua. Caden nodded sharply before motioning for the three to follow him. The Hunter lead them into the town after sending the other Hunter and the Jockey away to patrol. It didn't take long to find Gregory, he was speaking in a hushed tone with a Charger, an unfamiliar Witch and a Spitter nearby listening in. When he noticed that he had other company, he sent the three away and turned to them.

"Ah I was wondering when you three would turn up." he said, not seeming surprised. In fact he seemed drained of all energy. "Your Hunter buddy's around here somewhere." he glanced around as if the words would summon Alec but nothing happened. "He came in with four humans the other night. Said he fell into the river. He's lucky he didn't get hypothermia and die from it even after managing to slither out of those rapids."

"Have you seen him around today?" Ellis asked, stepping up to Philo's side with Joshua on his heels. Gregory thought about that for a moment with a slight frown before shrugging.

"I've seen a lot of Hunters today. A lot of Infected in general. If I had it was probably only in passing. Sorry guys. But I can tell you he hangs around the old trains and the humans' buildings. He seems to have taken a liking to those four he brought here." the Smoker let out a low cough his eye flicking to a Jockey that was approaching. "I'm needed. Come find me around sundown and I'll look for Alec with you. He hasn't left the town so we won't have far to look."

Ellis didn't like how Gregory spoke about Alec like he was a dog but didn't voice his opinions on the matter. Gregory told Caden to accompany them, show them the town and their quarters. The Hunter didn't seem happy about it but he did as he was told. Philo hastily told Caden that they would be staying together even if they had to sleep outside. _"You're a tight knit group I see." _Caden growled smoothly. _"I respect that. Very well. There is an old, small house up the hill near the town borders. I'll show you to it as the day draws to its end. But until then, let's check the rail yard. Alec may be there." _Philo nodded to that and translated for Ellis and Joshua.

"I take it you don't get very many groups like ours?" Ellis asked.

_"No. We normally get loners or couples that have broken up over the course of the Infection because of stress but have stayed together for safety." _Caden snorted in response, which Philo quickly translated.

"That's kinda bad huh? That the couple's relationships didn't strengthen while they fought ta survive?"

_"Well, most of these couples seemed like they wouldn't have lasted long anyway." _that seemed to put a halt to that subject which Ellis was oddly relieved with. He had never doubted his relationship with Alec even though the Hunter always seemed to try and keep him at arm's length whether for his own safety or because he just didn't want to be around people at the time. He knew that Alec was certain that he loved Ellis and that the hillbilly loved him back, and that nothing would change that. But he always seemed hesitant to get closer. Ellis supposed that was because Alec knew how dangerous he really was underneath the civilized persona he kept up faithfully. Even after eight months of being in the Infected world, Ellis still couldn't fully grasp just how dangerous the Infected could be. He knew he feared the savage ones, but he always had the thought in the back of his mind that they had been humans with lives at one point. That made it hard for him to end their lives even if they went for his throat.

He pushed that thought away when the old narrow gauge steam trains came into sight. The station was nothing but a small ticket booth and some benches to sit on and wait for the next train. The trains themselves were huge, large enough that if all three trains currently lined up on the rails were to be filled, the entire town could easily be evacuated if the military showed up. _"He sometimes walks up and down the cars inside and on the roofs. Keep a sharp eye out." _

"Do you have any idea why he's being so active? Other than the fact that Hunters' re high energy an' all." Philo inquired, looking down at Caden's crouched form. The Hunter in purple sighed, shaking his head some and rocking on his heels.

_"I think he's losing his mind. He wouldn't be the only one. But... I believe that he's keeping active to keep his mind busy, anything to distract himself from the fact that he may be cracking under all the stress and pressure we've all been under since the rebellion was beginning to be formed." _Caden paused, sweeping his hidden eyes over the rail cars looking for any sign of the missing in action Hunter. When he saw none, he let out another sigh. _"Do you have any theories on that subject?" _he looked up at the three that were standing beside him.

"When we were leavin the estate..." Philo started thoughtfully, "He had ta throw a grenade too close to blow back some soldiers that had trapped 'im in a shed. I think he may have gotten some head injury from it." the Smoker paused to cough. "He had seemed distracted and looked like he wanted to kill anythin outside our group." Caden took all that in before nodding.

_"He must not have taken the time to learn to control his Hunter mentality. Any head injury he sustained would have weakened any mental barrier he put up against it. Nothing is permanent." _Caden waited for Philo to translate for Ellis and Joshua who had adapted shocked and horrified expressions before he continued. _"Gregory's planning another attack on a military outpost in Ouray. Its not that far north and if we can take that town like we did Durango then we have a good chunk of territory to work with. Will you guys fight?" _

"I don't know." Philo answered, being echoed by the humans beside him after he explained what Caden had been growling. The Hunter let out a thoughtful growl before starting forward again.

"I'm assuming we'll search the trains then move on?" Joshua asked, his eyes darting around like those of a scared animal. He didn't like being near this many Infected, he was used to two. Not several dozen and more. Those around him nodded and he sucked in a deep breath, his timid demeanor coming back some. "Alright." Caden lead them onto the first one, leading them through quickly. There wasn't really much room for Alec to hide so they wouldn't miss him if he was inside the trains.

When they go to the second train, they saw him walking down the aisle toward them. As soon as the Hunter saw the group, he froze, his burning red eyes stretching wide. He took a step back, his eyes never leaving their faces. Philo noticed that the odd brightness had come back to his eyes which told him that the Hunter wasn't all there at the moment. He stuck out one arm to hold Ellis back when the hillbilly tried to get closer. The Smoker watched as as Alec's gaze locked on the machine gun Ellis had in his hands and the Hunter took another step back, crouching some as if to run. "He's unstable." Philo whispered to Ellis when he let out a soft noise of frustration and strained against Philo's strong grip. "Give me your gun. I think he's afraid of us because we're armed."

Ellis nodded and passed the Smoker his gun but kept his pistol, which was concealed under his shirt on his back, in its holster. Slowly, he stepped closer to Alec, who watched him from his half crouched position on the opposite side of the car. He looked into his eyes seeing the internal war going on. Run or attack? The Hunter's choice was shown when he jerked back another step, his heel hitting the closed door behind him making him jump. Ellis took the opportunity to move closer, motioning for Caden, Philo, and Joshua to move back as well. When Ellis was almost in arm's reach, he held out his arm, his palm facing up. Alec looked from Ellis's face to his open hand, his own clawed fingers rolling nervously in the air. Ellis could see the multitude of emotions flashing in Alec's eyes the longer he stood there.

Suddenly Alec's pupils dilated and he shot on hand forward, grabbing Ellis's upper arm and jerking him behind him. In the same heartbeat, on of the windows in the rail car broke and Nick's mutated form rolled into the car. Alec hissed at him, crouching more, curling his fingers into menacing talons. Nick hissed back, breaking into mad cackles, his eyes as unfocused and bright as the Hunter's. The hybrid Infected didn't even seem to notice the other three in the room. His bright eyes centered on Ellis who had his back pressed against the door behind Alec who seemed to puff himself up to seem more threatening. The two Infected stood at a draw for a long time, Alec not wanting to move and leave Ellis open, Nick not wanting to try and leap over the Hunter and get his belly sliced open.

Caden made the choice for them, pouncing on Nick's back and driving him into the floor. He screamed at Alec to run, grabbing one of Nick's thrashing arms and wrenching it behind his back. Alec, eyes still bright and unfocused, spun, grabbing Ellis around his middle and broke through the wood door and out into the cold air. He quickly climbed onto the top of the car across from him using his free arm, stopping at the top to situate Ellis on his back before he leaped away. Ellis knew the Hunter was running on instinct, still not focused or in control of his actions. Alec didn't stop until they reached the roof of a two story building on the town's edge. He sat down, making Ellis tumble off his back and almost off the roof. Once the hillbilly had regained his equilibrium he sat up, watching Alec as he paced the length of the roof on all fours, his eyes cloudy and growls rolling from his throat.

Ellis didn't dare move, especially with the look on Alec's face. If the Hunter was unstable, then any sudden movement would most likely set him off and get him attacked. He sat rigidly as Alec stopped pacing, glancing back in the direction of the trains before swinging his head around to stare at Ellis. Slowly, Alec moved forward, his eyes still clouded over and narrowed with slight suspicion and fear. It was obvious that he didn't recognize Ellis in his current state. The Hunter leaned toward Ellis sniffing up and down the length of his body much like he had when he had first made contact with the hillbilly. He stopped his scent examination at Ellis's wounded shoulder.

Reaching up with one hand, Alec pushed Ellis's shirt to the side with surprising gentleness. The bandage that had been wrapped around it was turning yellow from not being changed, an infection probably starting underneath. Alec's brow creased in a frown and he sniffed at the wound, drawing himself into a crouch, bending over one of Ellis's legs. He brushed his thumb over the bandage pulling it away and examining the light oily substance that had come away from the old nasty bandage. Carefully, Alec took his other hand, sliding it around Ellis's chin, turning his head from side to side, searching for any injury. Ellis kept his eyes trained on the Hunter's face, watching as his eyes flickered from cloudy to normal and back. The hillbilly did his best to keep his breathing even, understanding the danger of the situation he was in no matter how much the loved and trusted Alec. He was still a Hunter at heart and therefore a danger even though Ellis had never dwelled on that thought.

Ellis jumped when Alec pressed his face into the side of his neck, letting out a growling sigh. "I'm so sorry..." he suddenly growled, curling one hand into a fist.

"Fer what?" Ellis asked, a bit confused as to what he meant. Alec just shook his head and drew away, backing up several steps until Ellis was at arm's reach. When Ellis tried to move forward, he just backed up more, the same fog coming over his eyes again. "You really are losing yer mind aren't you?" the hillbilly whispered. "Or is it an injury that's causin all this?" Alec just stared at him blankly, the muscles in his upper arms twitching some as he fought the urge to pounce on the human before him. "Don't be a hero Alec. If ya got hurt, go get some medical attention. I'm sure they got some here somewhere." all he received was more of the same blank stare. Ellis closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. How he wanted to be closer than arm's length to the Hunter, but it was too dangerous for him. He forced himself to remain in his place as did Alec.

The Hunter's head twitched to the side some as a mix between a cackle and a shriek split the air. Nick was scrambling up the side of the building, his eyes bright and foggy at the same time. He had obviously been lost to the Infection, his mind centered only on retrieving what he perceived to be his. Alec snarled, creeping to the edge of the roof, positioning himself between Nick and Ellis. Once again, he seemed to puff himself up as Nick crouched across from him on the roof. This time, the hybrid didn't hesitate, lunging at Alec with his clawed hands stretched before him, ready to rip into the Hunter. Alec reared onto his feet much like an angry grizzly bear, grabbing Nick as he crashed onto the shingles below him and heaving him toward the edge of the roof. Backing up, Alec hissed at the hybrid who cackled madly, bounding at the Hunter.

He landed on Alec hard, making both of them roll from the force of the impact. Kicking out with powerful legs, Alec sent Nick flying backwards off the roof, flipping onto his stomach and lunging, slamming into him mid air. They crashed to the ground, bouncing and sliding a couple times, teeth and claws flashing in the now setting sun. Ellis ran to the edge of the roof, wringing his hands together nervously as he watched the two Infected roll in the muddy road, snarling and yelping. All this was over him, and he felt bad for causing so much violence and tension. He knew that the only way for the feud over him between Nick and Alec to end would be for one of the three of them to die.

A scream from Alec made him snap out of those thoughts. Looking down, Ellis saw that Nick had bitten down on Alec's arm hard, shaking his head from side to side like a dog and tearing away a chunk of flesh. Shrieking back, Alec pounced on Nick, burying his claws in the former conman's chest and sides, tearing away flesh as well. Yelling out, Nick grabbed a handful of mud from the road and threw it in Alec's eyes, blinding him. The Hunter staggered off him, wiping frantically at his eyes while Nick scrambled away as fast as he could. _Coward. _Ellis thought spitefully. When Alec had cleared the mud from his eyes as much as he could, he looked around furiously for the hybrid, who had vanished into the scrub and trees that lead up the side of the valley. Letting out a furious scream, Alec paced around on all fours, not seeming to notice his injured arm.

Carefully, Ellis climbed down from the roof, approaching Alec carefully, knowing the amount of danger he was in had increased now that the Hunter was pissed off. Crouching before the pacing Infected, Ellis waited until Alec realized his presence before holding out his hand palm up. The Hunter froze in his spot, looking at the hillbilly with cloudy eyes, his Hunter mentality most likely in control. Ellis saw Philo, Joshua, and Caden running up behind the Hunter, motioning discretely for them to stay where they were. Blood was pouring out of the wound in Alec's arm and his breathing was becoming labored as a puddle formed on the ground below him. He tried to shake it off but he fog over his eyes just became heavier until he swayed and fell over onto his side, a yelp being forced from his throat.

"We heard a hell of a lot of shrieking. Figured the slimy bastard had followed ya here." Philo said as he crouched over the Hunter. "He did quite a number on 'is arm huh?"

"Yeah. Caden, is there any place we can take him to get him medical care? Or is a health pack the best we can do for now?" Ellis sighed, looking from the Smoker to the purple hoodie'd Hunter. Caden looked at him for a second before sprinting away without a single sound. He came back a minute later, pulling a health pack out of his hoodie pocket and passing it to the hillbilly. "Thanks." Caden nodded, sitting down on the muddy road while Ellis pulled out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and uncapped it. Biting his lip, Ellis gingerly poured it on Alec's arm, wincing as he let out a low shriek in his state of unconsciousness. Re-capping the bottle, Ellis quickly wrapped up the wound, binding it tightly with the medical tape in the kit. "He probably has a head injury. Are there any human doctors here?"

Caden nodded, jerking his head in the direction of where he had said the human barracks were. He growled something to Philo, who quickly translated. "We can't risk moving Alec right now. He'll bring the doctor to us."

"Alright, thank you." Caden nodded again, sprinting away. Ellis noticed that Joshua was being oddly quiet, not having asked any questions or put his input in since the trains. "What's wrong Josh?"

"What?" Joshua asked, having been pulled out of his own little world. "Oh, nothing." he looked in the direction of the slight trail of blood Nick had left when he had fled. "But... If Nick's in the area, doesn't that mean he'll lead the military right to us with that tracker that's on him?"

_**Bad bad bad place to leave off but I wanted it to be a slight cliff hanger. Alec met up with them again really fast I know and he seems a bit too nuts but I wanted to show how fast his mind is degenerating as his Hunter mind is pounding against the walls that hold it back. Hope you liked it and I love reviews! They make good ingredients for cupcakes! Wow... marching camp has boiled my brain a bit too much... ugh... I need a nap.**_


	22. Someday

Separated

_**Oh my brain's been baked, boiled and deep fried all at the same time and I've sweated my own weight... Band camp sucks. But I hope this chapter turns out ok despite my lack of remaining brain matter. **_

Chapter 22- Someday; _Flipsyde_

_'Kill or I'm gonna be killed. I got a sack in my pocket, conscious yelling drop it. You know we're gonna lose it someday, and we tryin to hold it together but the devil is so clever. I'm gonna die you gonna die, we're all gonna die someday. Someday we're gonna rise up on that wind...'_

"_We have sown the seeds of sin. This is our punishment." -Unknown_

Alec woke up with a burning feeling all over his body. His arm and head both throbbed and when he cracked open his eyes, he had to close them again at the bright light that filtered through a window beside him. Listening hard, and breathing in deeply he tried to figure out where he was. He could hear muffled voices near by, automatically locking on to them. "So the doctor said he has how bad a concussion?" he heard Philo demand in a quietly furious voice.

Someone sighed and Ellis spoke. "He said that with how badly his skull was _fractured _he should be dead..." there was a painful pause. "Is that the cause fer all of this? For 'im starting to lose his mind?" Alec furrowed his eyebrows. He knew he was starting to crack but... lose his mind? Had he really been that far gone when he had seen Ellis in the train and then after?

"I don't know. How could the old man tell all this without an x-ray machine anyway?" Philo snorted disbelievingly and Alec heard him shift some. They must have been in the doorway for him to hear that. When Ellis didn't reply, Philo snorted again. "I say the coot's a quack."

"He stitched Alec's arm up didn't he?" Ellis snapped back. "He deserves some form of respect for his work." his voice drew closer as he spoke, indicating to the Hunter that he had moved into the room. He felt the floor beside him shake a small bit and felt Ellis's body heat close to his wounded arm. Philo coughed and drew closer as well, sitting down not quite so close. _Where's Joshua? _Alec absently wondered, trying to shove the burning feeling to the back of his mind. It was growing more intense as he remained aware of his surroundings and he wished for nothing more than for it to stop. The feeling made him think back to when his mother had attacked him, biting deep into his shoulder and infecting him. His thought then, when he had picked up her crushed and bloodied glasses, had been 'why did you do it?' His thought now, as he lay stretched out on a mat, was 'why is this happening?'

The could feel the tension in the air as the human and Smoker sat quietly. Something was going on that Alec wasn't fully aware of and he didn't have the state of mind to figure it out. All his energy was going toward trying not to scream and keeping his Hunter mind at bay as much as he could. A light rap on the door almost made him jump but he forced himself not to move, the thought that more pain would come from it keeping him still. The door creaked open and a familiar scent drifted into the room _Zoey? What's she doing here?_

_ Food... _his Hunter mind growled, pushing against the walls that barely held it back.

_No, shut up... Why would she be here when she has a hurt leg? Where am I any way?_

_ In cabin. Human with needle brought us here. _Alec couldn't believe he was having a conversation with his split personality but it appeared that it was more aware than he had been about what was going on. _Female smells good... and is weak. Easy prey.._

_ Yes easy prey... what? No! I don't eat humans._

_ But I do. We survive by eating those that are weaker._

_ There is no __we__. There's just me... you're a creation of the Infection and can go crawl into a deep pit and die. Its my body, mine to control, not yours. _

_ I am what you would have become if we had not met the loving one. The forgiving one._

_ Shut up, I don't want to hear it. _While he had been arguing with himself, Zoey had limped into the room, not sure how to proceed. She shifted some, careful of her fractured ankle, looking down at Ellis sitting beside Alec's seemingly unconscious form. She hadn't even noticed Philo yet, to focused on finding out if the Hunter was alright.

"Hello." Ellis greeted, offering her a welcoming smile as she grew more and more uncomfortable. His blue eyes traveled to the splint on her ankle and his eyebrows raised. "Why don't you sit down. I guess yer one of the ones Alec made friends with?"

"Uh yes." Zoey replied as she grabbed a chair, still unaware of the Smoker in the corner who was looking at her with his single eye narrowed. "I heard he got into a bad fight with another Infected and wanted to make sure he was alright."

"That's mighty nice of ya missy, but we're capable of takin care of our own." Philo snorted with surprising venom, making both humans jump.

Ellis narrowed his eyes at his Smoker friend, not sure why he was being so nasty. "Excuse him. We haven't gotten that much sleep the past few days. Its made us kinda cranky."

"That's not all Ellis and you know it." Philo hissed, standing up and moving toward the humans. "Nick's skulkin around like a goddamn panther ready ta jump on its prey, he has a tracker on 'im. That'll lead the military right to us before Greg can do anythin to counter." he sighed and looked down at Alec's form. "And now one of our strongest allies is practically down for the count..." he shifted his gaze to Zoey again, the milky yellow eye narrowing again. "As far as I'm concerned, its every man for 'is goddamn self."

"Philo that's enough." Joshua snapped from the doorway, having just come back from exploring the area around the town with Caden. The Hunter was just behind him, looking just as sour as the Smoker and human as they glared at each other. "This isn't the time to lose your temper, you know that." he continued in a softer tone, his blue eyes darkening some with all the built up emotions in him pushed against their barriers.

_"He's right Smoker. This is the moment when we need to be at our strongest." _Caden growled, shouldering his way into the room. He swept his hidden red eyes over Zoey, giving her a sharp nod before sitting down against the wall beside the door. _"The military is grouping to attack. They'll be here by night fall." _he glanced to the window where the nine o'clock sun was just shining through. _"And that's given they don't send any jets they have." _he rolled one shoulder than the other like he was about to pounce but settled against wall with a sigh.

"What does Greg plan on doin?" Philo asked, his anger forgotten for the moment. Caden shook his head, obviously not sure himself. The Smoker sighed slumping against his own wall and running one hand through his dark blonde hair. "Well, what else can we do except run?" he mused, half to himself.

_Run fight kill eat... _Alec's Hunter mind growled, making his heart lurch at its sudden vocalization. He swallowed, trying to strengthen his control on it but didn't succeed past making it be quiet again. He could still feel it pushing.

"We've been doin nothin _but _runnin since day one Philo." Ellis stated, shifting some. "Why don't we try fighting back for once?"

"Because then the military will push back with twice as much force." Joshua answered for the Smoker, sitting down beside him as Philo puffed off smoke furiously. "We may be able to use the terrain to our advantage, but they have guns and bombs and everything else."

"We have guns too." Zoey piped up. "Maybe not as many, but we have several dozen humans here alone, let alone other outposts we've been getting messages from from near by towns as well."

There was silence for a long moment before Alec heard Joshua shift and felt Ellis do so as well. "Yeah, but we're limited to ground attacks... If they come by air then we're screwed." Ellis said, his voice cracking some.

"We're screwed either way..." Philo grunted. "We can't run forever... and we can't fight back without being slaughtered." he let out a low angry noise and pushed off of the wall he was leaned against. "I'm goin for a walk... I need to think about this some more." he sighed, walking swiftly out of the room and out of the cabin. Alec expected Joshua to get up and follow him but his brother must have realized that the Smoker needed to be alone for a while because he didn't move a muscle.

Everything going on around Alec seemed to melt into the background as the burning feeling intensified. A feeling of dread took over him, gripping at his heart and squeezing it viciously. Would they really die after all they had been through, after the amount of time they had spent fighting for their lives? His father was the cause of this, and that thought alone made Alec mad and ashamed at the same time. He wasn't ashamed for the slimy bastard, he was ashamed to be related to someone who was heartless enough to create something so destructive and unleash it on the world. _Danger danger run..._ his Hunter mind whispered, practically whimpering. Alec ignored it but it spoke again, louder. _Danger run. _In the distance he heard a light tone, slowly getting closer. _Danger run! Run! Run! _The sound got closer, making Alec's hear tighten some more. _Run! _His Hunter mind screamed one final time before it shattered the restraints on it and took over Alec's body completely.

His eyes flew open and he flipped over on his hand and feet in a crouch. The bright light from outside dazzled him momentarily but he was able to look away and screech a warning before the tone got louder, able to be identified as a jet. The three humans in the room, while caught off guard by his sudden activeness, understood and got up, running. The sprinted outside as a jet flew over head, circling the valley. Caden shrieked and leaped outside, running as fast as he could toward the center of town to meet up with Gregory. Ellis looked down at Alec's crouched form, recognizing the heavy fog over the Hunter's eyes and stepping back as the jet banked sharply and sailed toward the town. There was a single heartbeat of silence as a hatch opened on the craft. The silence was quickly shattered by a enormous explosion as it dropped the first bomb. It landed on the opposite end of town from the stunned group, dust and fire being thrown up into the air.

Philo came sprinting toward them from the back of the cabin, wheezing some. "We gotta move!" another bomb was dropped, this time closer. "Now!" he started backing toward where he had run from. Joshua quickly followed him but Ellis and Zoey hesitated, watching Alec who remained in his place, watching the jet.

The third bomb was dropped, this time close to the humans' barracks. Alec straightened up, the fog lifting from his eyes some. He cast a long look at Ellis, then flicked his eyes to Zoey before standing up and sprinting toward the barracks. The two humans followed him closely, seeing his intentions while Philo and Joshua exchanged a long look. "Just go!" Ellis called back when he noticed their hesitation. "We'll catch up." he shot a grin at them to try and reassure them before picking up the pace to keep up with Alec. Zoey did her best to keep up, her mind focused on getting Bill, Louis, and Francis out of the buildings before they were blown to smithereens.

Ellis's mind wandered briefly to what the doctor who had taken a look at Alec's wounds had said. He had stated quite clearly that if he suffered any more head trauma, he would either be killed, lose all memory, or would go savage. The hillbilly prayed that nothing like that would happen. As they drew closer to the barracks, humans were already sprinting out of it, heading away from the explosions as a fourth bomb was dropped a couple streets over. Alec didn't hesitate, shoving his way through the humans who were rushing to get out. And old man was struggling to move fast but not trip or get knocked over. The Hunter quickly made his way over to him, hesitating some. _Easy prey... _

_No... I refuse to let you control me. _He snarled back, shoving against the blood-lust that clouded his thoughts. He took the old man's arm, giving him support as they drew closer to the clogged door. Ellis's hand slid over his own, and Alec drew back, giving the hillbilly a nod before retreating into the building again. He searched through every room, making sure they were empty before moving on, but moving swiftly. He almost passed a small room that looked like it was a broom closet. Half the door was missing and the only thing that made him stop was a low whimpering. Pushing what was left of the door aside, Alec looked down at a small child, a young girl of maybe five or six years of age.

_Easy prey... small and weak. _Alec ignored the voice, crouching down in front of the girl, trying not to look threatening with his red eyes, fangs and claws. "Where's your mom?" he asked, keeping his voice as soft and smooth as he could, going for reassuring. The girl whimpered again, curling into a tight ball and trying to push herself further back. The Hunter tilted his head at her, reaching out with one hand in a way similar to how he vaguely remembered Ellis doing the day before when he had been fighting against his split personality's want to kill. "Its alright. I'll get you to safety." he said, adding a purr in just to seem more comforting.

The girl sniffled but looked up at him, dark brown eyes leaking tears and her entire body quaking with fear. Slowly, she uncurled herself and moved closer. She reached out with one small hand, laying it in Alec's larger, clawed one. The Hunter curled his fingers around her hand, pulling her out of the closet gently. She seemed to realize that he wasn't going to hurt her for at that moment, she launched herself at him, curling her hands around the straps of the bullet proof vest he still wore. Alec wrapped his arms around her, creating a protective cage around her as the jet flew overhead and dropped its fifth bomb.

_**Holy fuck that's a short chapter... I'm so sorry, but my muse just flew out the window. I'll get a net and chase it down right away and hopefully make the next one not only longer but better. I don't like this one at all... It skips too much and is rushed. Bleh. Reviews make good bug spray. Itch itch scratch scratch... 'Till next time y'all.**_


	23. Airplanes

Separated

_**I could go on a rant about how sucky the last chapter was and all sorts of other useless irritating fluff that you guys don't need to hear. But I ain't gonna. But I can say that the old man rescue and the little girl rescue were significant. If you can tell me the obvious point behind them you get a pat on the back and a cookie, how's that? I've been feelin kinda depressed this past weekend so excuse me if this one isn't that great either.**_

Chapter 23- Airplanes; _B. O. B. ft. Hayley Williams_

_'Can we just pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now.'_

"_Do you fear death?"-Davy Jones; POTC2_

Alec felt nothing but sheer agony as he pushed the shattered remains of the hall he had been in off him. The little girl and himself had been lucky, the bomb had been dropped behind the building and the only thing that had made the building collapse was the wave of force from the explosion. Staggering as much as he could to his feet, making sure to keep his arms around the girl, he shuffled through the wreckage, doing his best not to trip over the debris in his path. He could feel splintered wood sticking in his hips, his arms, and his lower back. _How am I alive? _He wondered, chocking back a cough as he breathed in the dust filled air. The sound of the jet had vanished, showing that its assault on the town was over. _Is Ellis alright? And Philo and Josh? _He mused, thinking to distract himself from the pain of his new wounds and his old. His vision was fuzzy, everything was off kilter, and he was limping bad, barely managing to stumble a step without almost screaming.

The little girl sobbed in his arms, shaking in her terror. Alec tightened his grip on her, hoping to reassure her. "Wh-where's your mom?" he rasped, swallowing thickly and shaking droplets of blood out of his eyes.

"I-I don't k-k-know." she sobbed, almost hyperventilating. Alec was almost doing so as well, but he held himself together as much as he could, determined to get out of the wreckage of the building so he could at least get the girl to safety, even if he wound up dieing after words. This kid had a future ahead of her. Alec had lived life, to some extent at least, and he knew that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but this girl had a chance to find some sort of happiness before the Infection took her one way or another. The Hunter squinted up at the partially exposed sky, the sun almost to the ten o'clock point. If the Infection had never happened, he would be waking up now if it was a Saturday, and if it was a school day; seeing as he had been home schooled his whole life; he would be being taught by whatever dumb teacher his father had hired that week. Now his sleep pattern was all out of whack. If he got two hours in a day he was lucky.

Absently, he wondered why his Hunter mind was being so quiet but didn't dwell on it. The less he had to fight against at the moment the better. "What's your name?" he asked, his voice rough in his pain.

"A-Asha..." she whimpered. "Mommy... t-tells me it m-means 'hope.'" Alec mouthed the name, testing it on his tongue and smiled as much as he could, though it appeared to be more of a grimace.

"I-Its a very pretty name... for a pretty little girl." his lungs burned from the dusty air and he felt nothing but searing pain from the splintered shards of wood stuck in his body. He couldn't stop and pull them out now, he had to get Asha to safety. That was the one goal he was focused on now instead of how much he wanted to curl up into a tight ball and scream. He saw a shattered window in a room as he passed it and limped toward it. Luckily they were in the ground floor of the two story building, which was starting to groan in protest of being damaged so much, ready to collapse on their heads. Painfully, Alec swung himself and Asha out of the window. He made it two steps before his knees gave out and he fell hard on his side, screaming as the shards of wood were driven deeper into his arms and legs and hips. "Asha, you're going to have t-to find your mom. I-I can't get up." the Hunter shuddered some as white fire coursed through him.

He thought of Ellis. What would happen when Alec wasn't there to keep Nick's insane lust at bay? To keep the insane hybrid away from the hillbilly? And Philo. The Smoker needed _someone_ to torment or he would lose his mind. The Hunter thought of him as a brother, a true brother. Someone he could rely on for advice and to have his back when he needed support. Then he thought about his blood brother, Joshua. The poor, timid guy would be the only one left of their family. No one left to share inside jokes with or to complain about their mother's insane fashion sense. "D-Don't worry mister. I'll... I'll go find my momma and she can g-get you help." Asha whimpered, standing up on short, shaky legs.

Alec did his best to grin at her. "Alright. I'll be here." he whispered in a thick voice. He could feel blood trickling out of his mouth, running down his cheek. He was truly down for the count now. _If you can get us out of this without going on a killing spree... be my guest... I'm not ready to die. _He hissed to his Hunter mind, mentally berating himself for talking to it without it talking first. The Hunter watched as Asha ran away toward where a couple of groups were gathering near the wreckage of another building on the town's borders.

_Too much pain... _

_Oh give me a break... we've... I've been punted by a Tank before... This... This is nothing._

_ We're too damaged. Going to die... we're going to die. _The Hunter mind whimpered, seeming to come to terms that it was over. If it was just the shards of wood themselves, Alec wouldn't have much of a problem, he had a high tolerance to pain. But it was the blood loss that was doing this to him. His fuzzy vision was getting dimmer, making it hard to make out things that were close to him let alone far away.

_I think you're right... this is it... _He puffed out a painful sigh and glanced around, taking in what he could see. No one was close enough to see him without really looking, and there were several mangled corpses of not only humans but Infected laying around. Alec's eyes centered on one in particular. It was the old man he had been helping out of the building. This made him panic some. If he hadn't been able to get far enough away then what about Ellis?

In truth, Ellis was fine. Just shaken up, and worried. He hadn't seen hide nor head of Alec since he had gone back into the building. The one that was now missing its entire back half. He swallowed hard at the possibilities of what could have happened to the Hunter, none of which were good. And he hadn't seen Philo or Joshua since the bombing started. Right now he was standing beside Zoey and her three friends, looking around with mortified expressions. He turned his head back in the direction of the last building when he heard a high voice yelling, steadily getting closer. A little girl was running toward the small group that had gathered as fast her little legs could carry her, yelling for help. A young woman broke away from the group and knelt by her, wrapping her arms around her and sobbing. The little girl pointed back in the direction she had come, whimpering something. Ellis followed her finger and swallowed hard upon seeing a crumbled lump on the ground.

He sprinted past the woman and girl, dread filling him as he drew closer and was able to recognize the form on the ground. He crouched beside Alec, taking in his condition. There were wood shards sticking out of him, he was covered in slashes. The worst injury in Ellis's mind though was the bloody bruise on the Hunter's right temple. Ellis knelt there in shock as the Hunter took in a shuddering breath, his eyes squeezed closed in agony. There was a huge pool of blood around him that was slowly growing. Ice ran down Ellis's spine as a low breath dragged painfully out of the Hunter. There was nothing he could do to help him. He didn't have anything to wrap the wounds with, he didn't have anything to stitch them with. He had nothing.

He was vaguely aware of someone grabbing his arm dragging him back and of several people surrounding Alec. He watched as the Hunter disappeared behind the backs of others then his world went pitch black. When he opened his eyes, he was in a dim white room, the smell of cleanliness hanging weakly around him. Letting out a raspy groan, he looked around. The first person he saw was Joshua, and he looked like he hadn't slept in a week. "Josh... what's wrong?" Joshua jumped, having been snapped out of his own world. His blue eyes, oddly dark, focused on Ellis before he seemed to realize that the hillbilly had spoken.

"Oh you're awake." he muttered, breaking into a yawn.

"Yeah... what happened?"

"Well..." Joshua leaned forward some, lacing his fingers together. Sitting like that, Ellis thought he looked real old. Older than he should. "From what I was told, when you saw the condition Alec was in... you passed out." the way he said it, so short and to the point sent a shiver of dread down Ellis's spine.

"Where is Alec?"

"He's down the hall. They've been monitoring him since we got here. He barely made it down the road to here. We're in Ouray now. Gregory knew the military would try and attack us so he sent about forty Infected and humans combined here and chased them out while they were focused on Silverton."

Ellis laid there and thought about that. Then he looked around again and realized that someone was missing. "Where'd Philo get to?" a look of pain crossed over Joshua's face and Ellis's stomach did a painful roll. "Oh no..."

Joshua sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm. "A bomb fell too close to us. He was blown back... he lost his right arm... its been touch and go with him just as much as its been with Alec."

"Oh Josh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. At least we're all alive." Ellis nodded at that, and sat up, clenching his eyes closed when his vision swam.

"He hit his head again. There was a bloody freakin bruise on his head."

Joshua nodded, looking old again. "Yeah. The doctors... the doctors think he'll never wake up. He lost so much blood. His heart stopped twice while they were stitching up." Ellis's stomach did another painful flip. He felt nauseous and Joshua probably saw that because he got up quickly as Ellis swayed.

"I just... I wish this was all just a dream." Ellis muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I want things to go back to the way they were before we got involved in all this shit with the military." Joshua laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Why aren't you in Philo's room though?"

"They aren't allowing visitors on him or Alec yet until they're in better condition." he sighed, his voice thick and raspy. "And just so you know, you've been out for three and a half days. You went into shock briefly which surprised the ones examining you."

"Wait, where are all these doctors coming from?"

"They're captured military doctors. Everything in this hospital belonged to the military. We dealt them a hard blow when we took this town. A large chunk of their supplies in the area are here." Ellis didn't say anything to that. He was just relieved that Alec and Philo were both still alive, comatose or not. After seeing Alec the way he had been back in Silverton, as optimistic as Ellis was by nature, he honestly hadn't believed Alec would have lived through all that. He focused back on Joshua when he spoke again. "We're going to have to pack up and leave soon before they bomb here too. Gregory said that as soon as Alec and Philo and the other ones that are in the ICU are able to be moved, we'll leave and start heading east."

"Back east?"

"Yes." said a new voice. Gregory himself came into the room then, looking drained. "Rumor has it that there's large pockets of Infected who have managed to keep the military at bay for a long time. We're going to meet up with them and convince them to join the rebellion. I'm sure they'll join willingly." one of his arms was bandaged up tightly, though some yellow-green blood still seeped through. He had probably just come back in from a battle. No doubt the military was trying to take back their doctors and supplies. "And the areas on the Great Plains are mostly empty, perfect places for large groups of Infected to travel through without worrying about skirting cities constantly. We want to make the trip as short as possible."

Ellis wasn't really listening. Something told him that once Alec and Philo were back to at least traveling condition, they would set out on their own with the two humans. Both Infected were loners by nature, wanting only the minimal amount of company around them as possible. Traveling with a couple hundred Infected and humans would not sit well with them and Ellis and Joshua both knew it. The hillbilly watched mutely as Gregory handed something to Joshua, muttering something, then left. Joshua turned toward Ellis, holding an envelope in his hand that was old and yellowish. He ran a hand through his short black hair and opened it up, scanning through the small slip of paper in it, his eyes slowly widening. "We have a safe place to stay..." he whispered, his voice thick.

"What?"

"A... A friend of Philo's cousin got wind that he was still alive and this letter's been traveling since," he flipped the envelope over and read the date. "looks like at least five months. I can't really make out the date. But it says 'I know you'll be alive when this reaches you, whenever that is, but all I can say is head to Wyandotte. I have a safe place there and hopefully I'll still be alive as well.' And the address. This is great!"

"Yeah but... winter's comin. And heading north will mean facing colder and colder weather won't it?" Joshua looked up at Ellis, having obviously not realized that fact. "And we don't know how long it'll take for Alec and Philo to recover enough to travel that distance. Especially if we can't get a car or somethin." he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "How in the hell are we gonna pull this off?"

Joshua remained silent, leaning back in his chair, the dark circles under his eyes darkening in the poor light. Ellis could see his mind whirling furiously as he tried to figure out a solution to their problem. But he was probably too tired to think too hard on it right now. It was obvious he needed to sleep. Though with how much he was prone to worrying, he wouldn't sleep until he was sure his brother and Philo would be alright.

As if to accent that though, they both heard a sudden screech from down the hall, followed by running feet and shouts. "Tranq him!" someone yelled. A loud scream followed coupled with the sound of tearing flesh that was audible even in the room the two humans were in. Someone yelled in a scratchy voice, echoed by the same screech. "Get them damn it! Don't let them get away!" Ellis dropped himself off the bed as Joshua stood up and they ran to the door, peering out. A slew of doctors were gathered outside one door, either trying to get in or get out.

"That's Philo's room." Joshua grunted, moving forward. Ellis stayed on his heels as he shoved his way through the doctors.

"You can't go in there." one protested as Joshua shoved them aside.

"Watch us." the normally timid man snapped, glaring. He turned his attention back to the room where four doctors had cornered Philo and Alec both. Philo's remaining stump of a right arm was bandaged tightly along with some smaller ones on his cheek and remaining arm. Alec was hunched over, a huge bandage on his temple, and many others wrapping his arms, sides and legs. Their expressions were disoriented and confused as well as panicked. "Get out of the way." Joshua growled, grabbing one doctor's shoulders and yanking him back. Ellis pushed another back, keeping both Infected in his line of sight. In the state of mind both were in they could attack even them. When the doctors were pushed back enough, Ellis and Joshua faced Alec and Philo, taking a closer look.

Ellis noticed that the eye on the side of Alec's temple that was bandaged was slightly clouded, which could mean several things. When the hillbilly made eye contact, an instinctual screech erupted from the Hunter's throat, but both stood their ground. Philo looked like he might collapse but still managed to stay upright. There was a small, fresh prick in his remaining arm which meant he had been stuck with a tranquilizer before he had managed to get behind Alec do defend himself better.

Ellis maintained eye contact, showing Alec that he wasn't intimidated and wasn't going to run. The Hunter crouched lower, his wounded muscles bunching together to spring. Ellis prepared himself to grab him and defend himself should his Hunter mind be in control but when Alec did spring, he sailed right over Ellis's head, landed clumsily, and sprung again. He was gone in two more bounds, and as soon as he was out of sight, Philo hit the ground with a thud.

_**Oh my shit... guys I am so so so sorry it's taken me so long to update. But as explained in the little note that I made myself late for school to upload, I've been either grounded, or just not allowed on the computer on weekdays. But I hope you like this one, I know the end is kinda bad. I need to get back into the swing of writing for Left 4 Dead. Reviews are loved and nurtured and become inspiration.**_


	24. The Eleventh Hour

Separated

_**Holy crap... how long has it been since my last update? Over two months huh? Well... school's been a bitch and I've been distracted by... stuff. But I promise y'all that I'll do my best to make this chapter worth the wait. *is shot* Gosh I'm sorry y'all... I didn't intend to leave such a gap between the chapters... but hopefully I can pick up the slack pretty quick.**_

Chapter 24- The Eleventh Hour; _August Burns Red_

_'Truth be told they'll get what they promised. Crawling away, burning with regret, to the deepest, darkest pits of Hell.'_

"_You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be." - Chuck Palahniuk _

Alec didn't let anything stop him as he charged as fast as he could down the halls. He was completely and utterly lost and confused, his vision flashing strange bright colors as he rammed into walls and sliced into the soft bellies of anyone who tried to stop him from reaching his goal: freedom. The image of the look of fear and carefully restrained sorrow that was on Ellis's face as the Hunter flew over his head was burned into the front of Alec's mind and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake it. The truth was, he wasn't in control of his actions, simply in the passenger's seat watching as his body flew through the corridors, away from his best friend, his brother, and his lover.

His foot caught on a gurney that was situated outside a room and he rolled across the floor. In the corner of his eye he saw the pursuing doctors, three of them, all armed with guns and syringes that had heavy sedatives in them. Screeching in slight panic, Alec threw himself back to his feet and pushed himself as hard as he could to get away. Light flashed in the side of his vision and he skidded hard on the tile floor to stop and turn around. Practically galloping into an occupied room he was forced to stop when he realized that the window he had seen was three stories above the ground. A tree was in the yard just barely within his longest pounce range when he was in top condition. Now he was already tired and his wounds screamed in protest at the activeness. But the sound of his pursuers made up his mind for him, or the mind of whatever was controlling his actions. He stepped onto the ledge and pushed off hard, flying almost in a frozen frame of time toward the tree.

His clawed hands scraped against the lowest branch, catching the bark painfully and slowing his fall to the earth minimally. He tucked into a painful roll and slid into a half dead shrub, freezing there. Glancing back toward the window he saw the doctors leaning out it in search of him. Swallowing thickly, he stifled a painful cough, panting some and wincing as the adrenaline that had been coursing through his body wore off. As soon as the doctors withdrew from the window, he crawled on all fours out from under the shrub and slowly made his way toward a makeshift gate at the end of a parking lot filled with half rotted and half frozen bodies of humans and Infected alike. It was like walking through a battlefield, which was most likely what he was doing.

An agony filled hour went by before he managed to find an abandoned shack just outside the small town's borders. In that hour he had ducked behind numerous dumpsters, under cars, and into destroyed shops to avoid anyone who would question his condition and where he was going. He didn't have the mind nor the energy to explain himself so he just avoided them altogether. Curling into a ball under some cardboard boxes that were piled in a heap against a wall inside the shack, most likely a storage shack, he did his best to remain warm and awake. It was freezing in the small building, a result of the approaching winter, and he was without a jacket of any kind. Just his abused and torn up jeans that had all kinds of tape and gauze and gore all over them. He was bare chested, bandages wrapped around his chest and stomach, hiding the stitches and gauze that covered his wounds from the blast back in Silverton. The vision in his right eye was fuzzy and his head throbbed like someone was beating on it with rubber mallets.

Alec's battle against sleep soon came to a close and his red eyes slipped closed. His sleep was uneasy, dreams plaguing every moment of it. Horrible dreams filled with blood, agonized screams, and flashes of Philo, Joshua and most of all Ellis, perishing under the guns of the military, or under the claws of the Infected. His eyes flew open to what he thought was the waking world, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case when he saw two figures sitting before him. Both of them here doppelgangers of him but they were different from each other. One was scar free, blood free, and had gray-green eyes; what Alec had been like before the Infection. The other had hair caked in blood, scars spanning not only his face but his torso and arms as well, and had hands that were black with dried blood. Both of them had shackles around their wrists, and the chains from the shackles lead back to Alec's wrists. The ones connecting to the human version of himself were rusted and weak looking and the human doppelganger was transparent everywhere but his eyes, which shone with an ashamed sort of resignation. The chains connecting the Infected version of himself were strong, covered in blood, and the doppelganger was fully opaque, eyes glowing with brutal blood-lust.

He realized that those were the sides of his mind, and that he was losing his ever going internal war. The Infected mind was taking over slowly but surely, pushing any human thoughts, actions, or wants away until the only thoughts were kill, only actions were shred, and the only wants were blood and flesh. But Alec didn't know how to control that side of him, or how to restrengthen his human mind. Looking away from the two figures before him, he let out a screech when he saw the image of Ellis, Joshua, and Philo more or less torn to shreds against the wall opposite him. Looking back to the Infected doppelganger, he realized where all the blood had come from. His throat closed itself off, his vision became rimmed in red, and his muscles clenched to pounce. But as soon as he launched himself at the Infected him, something snapped down around his neck, jerking him to a stop. The same thing happened to the monster when he tried to yank it toward him.

_"There's nothing you can do to rid ourselves of this beast." _the voice echoed around him. He watched the faces of both, realizing they were talking to him but at the same time not. The human version was frowning, staring at the ground as if trying to memorize the dust that caked it and the Infected version was grinning sadistically. _"Its who we are now. You can only control it." _

"How..." he croaked out in a thick raspy voice. He received no reply from the images, but both stood at the same time, pulling Alec's arms up as the chains were pulled to their limits, forcing him to rise as well. He scanned their faces, his face in two forms, hoping for a sign of how to stop himself from becoming a mindless monster. He found nothing.

_"Control." _the doubled voice echoed softly next to his ears. Both of the doppelgangers faded slowly away, leaving Alec in a dream world with the mutilated bodies of the only people he had left in the world. His eyes flew open to the real world a heart beat later, his body drenched in a cold sweat and his entire form shaking from the frigid air. It took him a few seconds to realize that he was, for the first time in forever, fully aware of his surroundings and fully in control of what he was doing. He could still feel that ever present push of his Infected mind but it seemed subdued for the moment.

_I won't let you control me anymore you damn fucked up figment of my imagination._ He snarled at it, deciding that he may as well put his foot down now rather than wait and try and fight against it in the middle of a fight or when he made contact with someone. He didn't know how he would go about controlling it but he would do his best and hopefully it would be enough. He shivered, his muscles and wounds protesting at the jerking of his body as it tried to warm up. He slowly slid out from under the cardboard boxes, pulling himself to his feet on a dusty trunk. His claws left long streaks in the thick dust and he swiped his hand over the lines angrily, not wanting to see them. He puffed out a breath, watching as it turned to fog before his face.

Looking around he figured he may as well look through some of the boxes and hopefully come across some jackets or at least a couple shirts. Luck was on his side for once. He found a pair of dark blue jeans that were only a little too loose, plus a long sleeved polo shirt that he had a hard time buttoning. And a thick bomber jacket. He pulled that on as fast as he could, zipping it up to his neck. He relished in the warmth that the clothes brought him and also realized that they hid his wounds, all except for the ones on his face. If he could walk without too much of a limp he could probably pass himself off as still strong enough to take care of himself. Alec wasn't even sure how long he had been asleep. It could have been anywhere from a few minutes to a few days. Regardless, he felt stronger than he had in a while and was ready to move on. He just wished he knew where Ellis and the others were. If they were still in the hospital he would be amazed. Even as injured as Philo had appeared the stubborn Smoker wouldn't want to wait around. He would either want to look for his Hunter friend or get a move on to their next destination. Where ever that might be now.

Alec sighed, running a hand through his blood and sweat matted hair. He decided that the next time he ran across running, and hopefully warmish water, he would give himself a good scrubbing. All the blood was becoming a bit too much for even him and the putrid smell was beginning to clog up his nose. That was never good if it appeared like he was losing vision in his right eye from his recent head trauma. He would have to rely on mostly scent if he did lose his sight in even that one eye. Swallowing hard, he staggered out of the cabin slowly, looking around. It was getting dark, the sun appearing to have just vanished behind the mountain peaks. Shivering again at the cold, Alec paused in the doorway, peering into the darkness. He recognized the path he had taken to the cabin, deciding that was his best bet at finding his friends. He would be damned if he let them get too far without him, control or no control. He would stalk them as a mindless killer if he had to, he wasn't going to leave them.

Growling at the thought, he beat back his Infected mind a bit more as it leaped at any opportunity it could to control him. So far it didn't seem too hard to control it to some extent but he didn't know how long that would last. Deciding he may as well push himself some, he picked up his pace to a slow trot on the downhill walk. When he passed the hospital, he sniffed the air, picking up a thin trace of Ellis's scent, but none of Philo or Joshua. _Did he go looking for me by himself? _Alec snarled to himself, cursing the hillbilly under his breath. While he appreciated the gesture, he didn't want him to get killed, especially with Nick still on the loose. He wasn't sure any more how serious the wounds he hand managed to inflict in Silverton were anymore or if the hybrid Infected would be able to heal them and survive them. He hoped that he had been weakened enough to give at least another two days to Alec to find Ellis and get him safe.

He almost melted with relief when he found Philo and Joshua's traces too. It smelled a few days old which meant Alec had been knocked out for at least two or three days. That explained why he felt so strong, his wounds were probably mostly healed. There was still the issue of the fuzziness of his sight in his right eye though. That may become a problem in the future. He locked himself onto the scent trail, pushing any pain out of his mind to hopefully close the gap between him and the other three at least a little bit. Alec was forced to stop though when his ribs were feeling like someone was squeezing them in a wood clamp. Wrapping his arms around his middle, he leaned against a stunted pine tree that was growing along the path he had taken. He didn't have any pain pills to speak of and had nothing but will power to keep himself upright. _Sometimes I hate myself. _As soon as he thought it though he regretted it. He imagined what would have happened if he hadn't saved the old man and the little girl in Silverton.

In his mind, the two had a purpose. The old man was a representation of how the world used to be. The fact that he had died even after Alec had tried to save him proved that the world as they knew it was ending. The little girl, Asha her name had been, represented what the world was possibly going toward. She was part of a whole new generation and she would have grown up in the Infected world, given she got out of the small town alive, and would know how to survive. And hopefully, her generation and her mother's maybe as well would lead the world toward something better than what it had been before.

Huffing out a low breath, he pushed himself off the tree, continuing on his journey. Maybe if he carried on through the night, when the others were bound to be sleeping, he would be able to catch up by a significant amount. With the amount of pain he was in now though, the progress would be slow. A couple times, Alec swore he saw something stalking him out of the corners of his vision but when he turned to it it turned out to only be a trick of the light or his imagination. _Well there's no doubt I'm paranoid. _He growled to himself, swearing as his foot caught a root, sending him ungracefully to his knees, making more pain shoot through him and driving a screech from his throat. He remembered Francis and his constant 'I hate' comments even for the single day Alec had traveled with him and his three friends. Now he knew where the biker was coming from. _I hate the woods..._ he growled, barely holding back a grin.

Forcing himself back to his feet, he made sure to step carefully from then on. He didn't bother stopping until noon when he just couldn't walk anymore. Collapsing on the ground, he watched some sad looking grayish clouds roll by above him and wondered how far he would have to go before he caught up. The trail was slowly getting stronger but it was so gradual that he barely noticed. Running a hand through his hair, he winced when flakes of dry blood came away on his hand. He probably looked like a serial killer who had gotten into a fight with a cougar and lost horribly.

A tremor in the ground made him freeze. It was familiar and another followed it closely. A Tank. He didn't know if it would be friendly or not, and was reminded painfully of Keelan. He missed the big guy even after so long after his death. But he had died a good death, doing what he perceived in his fried brain to be right, protecting his friends. Shaking his head to clear the memories, Alec slid himself behind a tree as the tremors grew more pronounced. The Tank came into view after a couple painful minutes and the Hunter recognized it instantly. He had seen it twice in the past couple weeks. Once outside the mansion and once near the gorge leading to Silverton. There was no way this was a coincidence. Narrowing his eyes, Alec debated on whether or not to approach it, quickly deciding against it when he heard a cackling screech.

Fury coursed through him when Nick flew out of the brush and toward the Tank. The hybrid attached himself to the beast's shoulders, tearing, shredding, and biting. It bellowed roughly, rearing onto its too-small legs and groping for the scrambling fiend on its back. Nick stayed in the general area of its head and throat, shredding for all he was worth. Blood streaked the Tank's chest and face and Nick's hands and arms, splashing onto the forest floor. Alec ducked as the Tank moved to where Nick would be able to see the hiding Hunter if he looked, crawling backwards under a hawthorn bush. It only too two long minutes for the hybrid to, by himself, down the monstrosity. It fell with a final thud, and the fiend dropped to the ground before it, spitting on its form.

Alec knew he hadn't been hallucinating the whole night. Nick _had _been following him, hoping to be lead to Ellis. His nose must not be as good as Alec's was and he had to rely on someone else to do all the work. How typical. Once a conman always a conman. Narrowing his eyes, Alec tried to decide if he was in proper condition to ambush the hybrid now and kill him. A sharp jolt of pain from his ribs decided that for him. Maybe another day or two of slow travel would allow him to recover enough to at least cripple Nick. Until then, he would have to abandon the scent trail and lead Nick on a wild goose chase through the mountains. With winter approaching quickly. He shivered at the prospect but knew he didn't have much of a choice, he still felt it his responsibility to protect Ellis. And he was going to do the best he absolutely could for as long as his body would allow him. _Chase on Nick... you're in for more than you can handle._

_**Ah... I feel horrible. Its been way too long since an update and this is such a sucky place to leave off. Even though it appears shorter its actually just over three thousand words. There's just not a lot of dialogue... none I think except the beginning. I fully appreciate the wonderful reviews I've been getting from a lot of awesome people. Even though it may not seem like it, you guys are my inspiration and your reviews really are the only reason I'm still continuing this story (it was supposed to end at chapter five with Ellis going away with the other three and leaving Alec *clears throat*) Anyway, hope you guys still like this story and I hope I didn't just ruin it for you. Its been so long since I've written on this that I'm literally giving myself a migraine to remember all the details. Heh heh, hope y'all don't kill me~!**_


	25. Eyesore

Separated

_**Nya... I have four days of my Christmas break left and have a Spanish project to get done plus memorizing part of Julius Caesar. But instead of doing that I'm writing this. Heh heh, oh well. And you guys make me feel like a horrible person... I've gotten reviews stating how people miss me and are glad I'm back to writing. I'm am the most awful human being in the universe...**_

Chapter 25- Eyesore; _Janus_

_'Return all of this to sender, the mirror spoke to me and showed all this pretending was catching up to me. Lights out, wake up, stay calm, decide. Reach up, stand or be and eyesore.'_

"_Control is never achieved when sought after directly. It is the surprising outcome of letting go." - James Arthur Ray_

Alec knew he was well of the scent trail now. He had been leading Nick successfully on a wild goose chase up into the mountains for almost three days now, and because of it, he now had little to no hope of finding Ellis, Joshua, and Philo again. The fact that the temperature around him was dropping as he climbed higher in order to get Nick further away. His stomach was snarling at him to give it food but he couldn't stop, not yet. When he reached a far enough distance, and when he was feeling stronger, he would eventually have to turn on Nick and at least cripple him before he could backtrack and hopefully pick up the trail yet again.

He shivered, a cold wind biting at his face as he tromped through some slushy, half melted snow that had fallen a couple nights ago. It hadn't snowed since and was just warm enough to melt it some. Barely. His heavy boots were leaving definite impressions in the slush so there was no reason for Nick to lose his trail. The Hunter stopped, sliding his hands under his jacket and letting a shudder pass through his body as more freezing wind blew at him. Squinting against it, he tried to see farther in the dense forest but was having trouble. Massaging his still sore ribs, he let out a soft growl and took a step forward. He screeched when his foot kept going to his knee before it stopped. _You're joking. _He snarled to himself, not believing his luck. He had managed to almost walk off a possibly dangerous ledge if one part of it went up to his knee. He was a pretty tall fellow and was standing upright, not wanting to freeze his hands buy moving on all fours. If he had sunk that far, then he could just imagine what was ahead of him.

Deciding not to risk it, he simply stepped down to the level his knee was sunk to and trudged through the slush parallel with the mountains instead of directly up and toward them. That path didn't last long however and he found himself falling down a steep hill, sliding over rough terrain on his back at a deadly speed in a manner of seconds. _Shit! _He yelped silently as he barely managed to grab a low branch on a good sized tree. Pulling himself onto the branch, he watched the snow from his fall roll past, bouncing and creating small balls as they made their way down the rest of the hill and to another drop off. _Snow in all the wrong places._ He groaned, reaching under the lip of his pants and brushing some snow out his pant leg that had collected between his worn out boxers and his jeans. He shook some from under his jacket and shirt as well before carefully lowering himself from the branch, testing the depth of the slushy snow. It went to his thigh. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I don't think any Saint Bernards work in this area and none would be dumb enough to come near an Infected. _The prospect of freezing out here in middle of nowhere Colorado didn't appease to him in any way, especially since he knew Nick was hard on his trail.

Shaking his head, he looked through the trees to see if maybe he could move through them and find a... safer path. He really wasn't up for dieing quite yet. There was too much left for him to do. Pinpointing a relatively simple path through the trees, Alec sucked in a deep breath, praying that his leaping skills hadn't diminished like his state of mind, and leaped. He managed to land the jump but less than gracefully and the branch creaked under the sudden weight. He quickly jumped again to keep it from snapping under his weight and continued a steady rhythm, pausing after a while to catch his breath. His muscles ached even after only five minutes of jumping which worried him a great deal. Because he had been so inactive for so long, his abilities as a Hunter in general may have abandoned him some.

_The fact alone that I've been doing more walking than jumping must have a part to play in it. My upper body strength has suffered because of it. _He mused, looking for another path to take. His arm and back muscles had just as much of a part to play as his leg and stomach muscles. If he couldn't pull himself up onto a building ledge or into a tree or hold himself a certain way while jumping, what use were his legs and his stomach, which provided a lot of the forward momentum and his ability to change his direction some midair. _That's not a good thing if that is true. _Alec let out a soft grunt as he jumped again, barely making contact with the next tree before he had leaped again, ricocheting off the trunk of another and swinging off another branch before landing finally in the bough of an old oak. He sucked in a deep breath of the crisp air, feeling a surge of freedom from the movements. He hadn't done something like that in a long time and it felt good. But he had to remind himself that he wanted to be sure Nick kept up to some degree so he rested for a little while. _May as well get myself fed while I'm waiting for the sorry bastard. _

Taking in a breath of the air, he couldn't outright find any possible prey other than old scents from a couple nights before. It was beginning to get dark so maybe some deer would wander out of their sheltered areas to look for something to graze on before long. Sure enough, after no longer than twenty minutes, a doe cantered into his line of sight. It looked old, and probably wouldn't last the winter so he locked onto her and crouched. He waited patiently, his muscles trembling as the feel of the hunt, the stalk, the preparation for the pounce, sprang to life in him. The feeling had been lying dormant for a very long time, since he had first met Ellis he believed. Now that he was on his own, it felt good to release some of that pent up energy that most likely also played a part in the strength his Infected mind possessed.

_Maybe... I don't have to control it at all... maybe I just have to be more like it. _The more energy he released, maybe the weaker the Infected mind would be and the easier it would be to keep it contained. Narrowing his crimson eyes, he watched as the doe drew closer, its winter coat twitching as it brushed against leafless bushes in search of food. Alec ran his tongue over his teeth in anticipation. It was almost below him, an easy kill. But of course something had to startle it, making its head and tail go up in unison. It looked around, nostrils flaring, taking one step back with a dainty hoof. Alec froze in his place, every muscle trembling with the urge to pounce but knowing better. He slowly drew in some of the air around him, recognizing the scent of another Hunter. A bush crackled ten meters behind Alec and the deer took off, making the Hunter in the tree groan and spin, glaring at the offensive bush.

_"Come out, I know you're there." _He snarled, using the Infected tongue for the hell of it. There was silence, no movement or sound anywhere around him for a long minute before the other Hunter slid out from behind the bush. Alec's eyes grew wide when he recognized the purple, bloodstained hoodie of Caden. _"What are you doing out here?" _he growled, dropping down from the tree he was in to stand before the other Hunter.

_"Looking for you actually. Gregory sent me looking when you fled the hospital, but I didn't pick up your trail until a few days ago. Are you following your friends?" _Caden scratched his shoulder absently, looking up at Alec from under his hood, red eyes glowing in the shadow of it. He simply nodded. _"Sorry I scared off your kill. It wasn't intentional. I didn't even know it was there until it took off." _

Alec sighed, running a hand through his matted hair. _"Its fine. Do you know where Ellis and the other were going?" _his stomach protested at the lack of food as he spoke, making his face flush some. Caden smirked, driving a growl from Alec that told him not to push his boundaries.

_"Michigan I think. But they might end up getting sidetracked somewhere else." _the other Hunter paused, shifting on his haunches. _"They're all worried about you. Ellis said you looked like you weren't even the same person when you ran off."_

_ "I wasn't. I feel like I'm in control now though. Don't know how long it'll last." _Alec shrugged, feeling for the ever present push of the Infected mind. It seemed weak at the moment, and that was probably a result of his sudden activeness. Caden let out a growling sigh, pushing himself to his full height. Even standing, he was still somewhat short. He appeared young, maybe about seventeen or eighteen, not even out of high school yet. Alec's heart ached for him. At least he had had some chance to experience a real world, being Infected at twenty-one. In fact, he had just had his birthday and gotten drunk off his ass in celebration when he was bitten by his mother, shot by his father, and left to die.

_"You need to be sure you can control it before you approach any human. Especially Ellis and your brother." _Caden snarled, moving toward Alec, who took a step back instinctively. Caden noticed his wariness and bit back a smirk. _"Its still controlling your actions. If you're apprehensive around someone who's a friend and comrade then you don't have much control as you've fooled yourself into thinking."_

_ "You speak awful strong for a kid, kid." _Alec snapped, narrowing his eyes. He didn't particularity like being told he was wrong, never really had, but knew Caden had a point.

Caden snorted, sticking his hands into the pockets of his purple hoodie and cracked his neck to one side then the other. _"I've been through my fair share. I wasn't brought up thinking the world was full of flowers and ponies and happiness."_

_ "Neither was I."_

_ "No but you were still sheltered. I've seen your files and I know of your family and their... activities. Your dad wasn't the only one making shady deals and doing bad things. Your mother and eldest brother were in on it too."_

_ "What?"_

_ "I assume you weren't aware of it either."_

_ "No. And where did you access any files if all computers are down? Anything worth looking at was destroyed when I blew our mansion."_

Caden grinned from under his hood and shifted his weight. _"That can't be explained now. It will become clear later but right now I need to point you toward Ellis and the others and give you some... tips on controlling your Infected mind." _he moved to Alec's side and motioned with one clawed hand toward a mountain peak. _"Philo said they were going to stop at that mountain and wait for a week. They could be there already so you need to get moving as soon as you can. But first, I need to tell you this. The Hunter mind is the hardest to control next to the Tank mind. There is no way to force it to listen and no way to restrain it forever. The most you can do is let go and move on instinct as much as you can. The more energy you release at one time the easier it will be to keep it at bay." _he peered at Alec from under his hood. _"You may have already figured that out eh?" _

_"To an extent. I'm assuming you're not coming with me?" _

_"No. I need to get back to Gregory as fast as I can. We have a couple parties out looking for Nick so don't worry about that either."_

_ "That's just the thing. He's been following me for days hoping I'll lead him to Ellis. I'm sure he's not too far behind me and he may have even heard what you just told me. Those parties need to kick it into high gear 'cause I'm just one Hunter. I watched the bastard take down a Tank on his own a few days ago and he was still injured from the incident in Silverton. Lord knows what he can do now." _

Caden swallowed some at that, his usually calm facade cracking at the information that had just been presented to him. He didn't growl another word, he simply nodded a farewell, crouched, and leaped away. Alec blinked after him, tilting his head to one side. He hoped he would see Caden again, he enjoyed the presence of another Hunter after traveling so long with a Smoker and two humans. It was nice to interact with one of his own kind.

Turning his attention to the mountain that had been pointed at, Alec decided that food could wait one more day even though he hadn't eaten anything except frozen berries and icy roots for the past two days. Anything to keep him going when fresh meat wasn't in the area. Sucking in a deep breath, he started to trudge toward it with a new level of determination. All the while he was recalling the past few weeks. Since his 'changes' in the testing facility, he hadn't been himself and it had been on purpose. He had fooled himself into thinking he couldn't control himself around Ellis because of the new features to his body and his mind. The stronger presence of the Infected mind did a lot of that. But for the longest time he hadn't been acting like himself, even keeping Ellis at arm's length.

By now the hillbilly should be immune to the new strain of the Infection that was in Alec's body. He had no doubt about that seeing as Ellis had been exposed to the Infected for so long. And it was obvious he knew how to handle dangerous creatures if how he interacted _with _Alec was any indication. With longer claws and fangs than any other Hunter, and even greater strength, the chances of Alec unintentionally harming someone he was close to was all the more prominent. But he found himself just not caring anymore. All he wanted was to be close to them now. He didn't do too well on his own anymore, having come to rely on some form of backup after well over a month of trauma and constant action and movement with a team.

Maybe now he could be himself again now that he had some idea of how to control the Infected mind thanks to Caden. He was a loner to some extent by nature but not to the extent he had been recently. As long as he had someone to lean on or someone to lean on him he was happy with his life. Growling and cursing himself, he leaped back into the tree, locking onto a proper path and moving quickly. His feet and legs and back moved on their own accord, his body on autopilot. His arms and hands grasped and hooked appropriately when needed, keeping him in a constant state of motion. His breath puffed in front of his face in thick clouds of fog and his heart pounded furiously. His throat burned at the frigid air, but the freedom of the movements felt amazing. For a while it made him believe there was salvation for the world, but as soon as he had to stop to catch his breath that hope died.

With almost all of the human population either part of the military or some straggling groups of survivors either on their own or part of the Infected-Military civil war that was building, the complete take over of the Infection was more imminent than ever before. If some stability couldn't be formed between humans and the Infected, the Infected would kill off all humans and then not know what to do with themselves. Any food would slowly dwindle and all amounts of territorial and other disputes would erupt. Soon there would be nothing but a once great planet handed back to its roots without the human population to fuck it up any more.

Snarling, Alec pushed himself to continue. It was pitch black, barely enough light from the rising moon for him to see the next branch before him as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He _would _catch up to them before Philo's set week was up, and he _would _redeem himself in anyway he could. With or without Nick there to screw up their lives any more. He would be taken care of eventually. It was him versus everyone else. Alec even doubted that his 'military buddies' were behind him anymore because he hadn't seen hide nor head of any soldiers since Silverton. Either Nick had gone AWOL in an attempt to get Ellis by himself and away from civilization and Infected alike, or he had just been abandoned by his only shield. Now he was desperate to get what he wanted, his mind not in the right, and his Infected mind in full control. Alec had thought that the conman was pretty alright in New Orleans. A bit possessive over something he had no business being possessive over, but he was an ok guy. Now... he had completely lost his mind and there was no going back.

Swinging off a branch that had some thorny vine growing off of it, Alec slid into the snow hissing. It was too dark for him to pull the thorns that were now embedded in his palm out now and he really didn't want to have to feel them driving deeper into his flesh all night but didn't have a choice. His body was starting to protest at the activeness anyway and he would probably have to rest for a couple hours before continuing. He had to remind himself that, however fast he was healing, he was still wounded. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he managed to overwork himself, make his wounds worse, and possibly kill himself without meaning to. _I need to stop with the 'knight in shining armor' acts. Its taking too much of a toll. _He groaned, pressing his hand into the snow as it burned. He couldn't really help himself though, he couldn't stand knowing that something bad was happening and that there was something he could do to try and fix it but wasn't doing anything about it. That was _why _he did what he did and tried to protect everyone, save anyone he could. He may not necessarily like them upon meeting them but if they didn't give him a reason to dislike them, he would do what he could for them.

_But getting myself killed isn't worth it. _The only people in the world he would do that for were Philo, Joshua and of course Ellis. If he could go back to the day he decided to help the hillbilly in the swamp, he wouldn't change a thing. Sucking in a deep breath, Alec decided to walk for a while, something potentially deadly but better than killing his hand any further. Stiffening in his place, he scented the air again, he realized that he had run across the scent trail again. That thought alone made his heart and stomach do a flip in unison. It was fresh which meant he was very close. Maybe he could catch up to them tonight. _The smart thing to do would be to sleep tonight and look for them in the morning but... I haven't been for smart recently. _He grinned at the thought, hoping that when he _did _run into his friends again, he would be in full control of his actions.

_**Boo! Bet with my recent track record y'all weren't expecting two chapters two days in a row eh? Well... considering its one thirty in the morning here I suppose two chapters three days in a row but I started it at eleven thirty so... bleh. Things are being resolved but what will be done about Nick? And a friend of mine was griping about how he missed the 'old Alec' from before Durango and I agreed with him so I'm restoring Alec back to his former glory with an actual sense of humor. Hope y'all like it and continue to review!**_


	26. Running Up That Hill

Separated

_**Thanks to Rawkziee for the song suggestion. Also... I haven't slept hardly at all in two days so if this one's quality isn't as great I apologize.**_

Chapter 26- Running Up That Hill; _ Placebo_

_'If I only could make a deal with God and get him to swap our places. Be running up that road, be running up that hill, be running up that building._

"_Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of resurrection."- Arthur Schopenhauer_

It didn't take Alec very long at all to find their camp site, only the rest of the night and most of the next day. No one was in it but it smelled like they had recently left, maybe to look for supplies. He wasn't sure if he should just approach them or wait, observe them at a distance to see what their states of mind were. Climbing up to an overhang that sheltered the camp, he decided on option two, peering down onto it patiently, waiting for them to return. Philo appeared first, the bandage around the remaining stump of his arm now gone, revealing smooth healed tissue. It still made Alec's heart do a painful flip seeing it. Joshua was next, his face carefully neutral and his arms loaded with firewood. Ellis was last. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week and probably hadn't. His face as sallow, almost sickly, and his arms hung limply at his side. It hurt the Hunter to see it, but he couldn't move in quite yet. It was getting dark and he approached them with only the light of a campfire to show who it was who was coming up to them, he might get shot. He also wasn't sure how they would react to him in general.

They quickly got a fire going, more for warmth through the night than anything. There was an almost painful silence draped over the three as Alec watched from above. Joshua sat beside Philo while Ellis was alone on the opposite side of the fire, poking at it absently with a stick. "Do you think he'll try and catch up?" Ellis finally muttered, almost too low for Alec's ears. The Smoker and other human remained silent for a while before Joshua leaned forward with a sigh.

"I think he will. If he's in his right mind, I know he'll do everything in his power to find us. Hopefully Caden was able to find him." he spoke in a level voice. Nothing like the timid yet bright brother Alec knew. This worried him greatly. Had he caused all of this? _Of course I did... I lost my mind and ran away like a psychopathic coward._ He snarled to himself, digging his claws into the ground below him.

"He wasn't in his right mind though... you saw the look on his face. I've never seen him look that... angry... or scared."

"Well if I know my brother as much as I think I do, then he'll be doing his best to regain control and find us." Joshua sighed, running a hand through his black hair. Ellis didn't reply and Philo remained silent for a long time before he sighed.

"Regardless... If he attacks us, given he shows up, I ain't gonna not attack back just 'cause he's my friend." his voice was hard, not at all like the mischievous, teasing Smoker Alec knew. The loss of his arm, the recent events, all the stress and anger must have finally taken its toll. "And what about Nick? If that slimy bastard shows up what're we gonna do. We don't know how strong he is or how weakened he was from his fight with frog-legs." Alec couldn't help but grin at the fact that as stressed out as Philo seemed he still tried to squeeze a teasing insult into what he was saying.

Looking around, Alec decided that he may as well try something but didn't know what. First he thought maybe he could go back, start again in the same way he had first gotten to know Ellis by helping them from the sidelines. But with Nick still hard on his trail that wouldn't be the safest way. His second option was try to rejoin them right away and pray that they weren't afraid of him. If he could convince them he was in his right mind then maybe he could get away unscathed. His mouth curled into a wide grin as he looked down at Ellis, his eyes centering on the hat that hadn't left the hillbilly's head through all the trauma. Pulling his legs under him, Alec crept to the edge of the overhang, judging his leap and how he could possibly land on Ellis but not hurt him.

Taking in a deep breath, he allowed himself to drop down, as soon as his feet touched the ground he pushed off again, landing on Ellis's stomach and pushing him to the ground. For a single heartbeat he made eye contact before he snatched the hat and took off again. "What the-" he heard as he scrambled into a tree, just in their line of sight. Crouching on a branch, he situated the hat on his head and stared pointedly at Ellis, not saying a single word. Ellis blinked at him, seeming confused. But when Alec leaped to another tree, turning and looking expectantly at him again, it seemed to click what Alec wanted.

"He wants you to chase him..." Joshua muttered, staring at his brother with a thoughtful expression. Alec grinned, dropping to the ground and spinning on his heels as Ellis let a small smile cross his face and took off after the Hunter. He made sure to stay just inside Ellis's sight as he leaped through the frigid forest. He finally ended up in the bough of a large oak tree with Ellis panting below him.

"Give me my hat." he gasped, getting a chuckle from Alec.

"Good to know you still remember my tricks." he replied quietly, sitting in the bough of the tree. He removed the hat from his head, sliding down the trunk and replacing it on Ellis's head before going back up to the bough.

"So I'm guessing you're sane again?" hope shined in the hillbilly's eyes, making Alec's heart do a flip.

"Nah. I was never sane. But I am in my right mind if that makes sense." he grunted with a grin. "Philo's turned into a hard ass. Doesn't fit him." he sniffed, staring back in the direction of the camp.

"He's worried. You're his best friend Alec. When we told him what happened at the hospital after he went under again his face turned as red as a beet. Alec... on your way out when you were escaping you killed four doctors."

"I did...?" he winced, not really remembering his escape. He hadn't been in control of his actions during it. All he remembered was flashing colors and the feel of tearing flesh. "I don't remember." and that fact alone made him mad. Closing his eyes, he sucked in a deep breath to calm himself before opening them again. Ellis was looking up at him with a concerned expression, hidden fear barely noticeable. "Did I do anything else that I'm not aware of?" he tilted his head some, trying to remember.

"Not that we know of. Greg sent Caden out right away but he said your scent vanished in a shop somewhere. Where'd you go?" Alec slid down to the forest floor beside Ellis, noticing him tense some. He obviously thought that Alec wasn't in full control of himself after his behavior in Ouray and Silverton.

"Almost to the town's borders. I was passed out in a storage shack for two or three days." he snorted, rubbing his arm in thought. "Its a wonder I didn't freeze with nothing but pants and bandages for cover." his mind flashed back to the disturbing dream he had had while he was passed out and it made him shiver almost violently. The image of Ellis, Philo, and Joshua shredded to pieces, and by his own hand, was burned into his mind forever. "I've been leading Nick on a wild goose chase. Or I was when Caden found me."

"So he did find you?"

Alec nodded, puffing out a sigh. "That's the only reason I found you. I was so far off the trail that by the time I backtracked to it it would either be gone or you would be so far ahead of me that nothing short of a vehicle would let me find you again." glancing around the darkening forest, he thought hard on some of the things he had discovered during his trek through the snowy mountains. "He took down a Tank on his own... It only took about three or four minutes and he was still injured from Silverton. By now he'll have recovered because I know I'm fully healed."

"What will we do when he finds us?" trace amounts of fear laced Ellis's voice as he thought about the insane hybrid after his body. "Between you and Philo ya have three arms and three eyes so there's no way the two of ya can take him down without some help from me and Josh. And we can't shoot without possibly killing one of you if y'all get into a brawl." he scratched his head under his hat and sighed. "There's no hope is there?"

Alec growled at that, not liking the changes to Ellis's personality. The human visibly flinched as anger sparked in the Hunter's red eyes, not sure if he was about to lose it or not. "Ellis you can't keep thinking this way... Its not right." he growled, his hands curling into fists. "What happened to your happiness? It used to be, no matter what happened you would always see the brighter side, always try to lighten the situation in your own way." he let a breath hiss between his sharp teeth. "You _were _the hope between us all. And now to see you... like this... it hurts." he closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down.

"Its all finally taken its toll Alec." Ellis whispered, his eyes centered on the ground. "When you ran off I never thought I'd see you again. Your wounds were still bad and it was getting colder. And then when Caden came to us and said your trail had disappeared and he couldn't find it again... that's when it all hit."

The Hunter thought about that. Everything that had happened recently had somehow been his fault. If he hadn't attacked Nick in the forest when the conman was still human, he wouldn't be this insane monster today. If he had realized that there was a tracker in the visor he had had so long ago, they would probably less involved with the military and their threats. "This is my fault. And I'm going to make it right, I promise. I can't travel with you guys until I know for sure Nick's far enough behind you to give you a head start."

"But-"

"No. If at all possible I'll cripple Nick to make sure he doesn't bother you for a long time."

"What if he kills you?"

"Then I will have died doing something I knew would help _you_." he wasn't going to let himself die though. Not for a long time. Casting his eyes to the side briefly, he considered what death may feel like then quickly gave himself a mental slap. "I wish things could have turned out different but things happen the way they happen for a reason. I will come back." his voice was firm but his mind was unsure. Deciding to worry about his possible impending doom later, Alec stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ellis. "Oh I missed you..." he sighed, feeling the hillbilly tremble against him as arms wrapped back around him. Ellis gripped Alec's jacket hard, not wanting to let go and he had to stifle a sob. "Don't worry... I _will _come back." he let a reassuring purr rumble through him as Ellis buried his face in the crook of the Hunter's neck.

"You'd better." was all Ellis managed to get out. "I should get back to Philo and Josh. They're probably thinking you ate me by now." he pulled out of Alec's grip, resting his hand over the Hunter's heart as if to make sure he was really there. "I'll tell them you're better so they don't try to shoot you or somethin." he forced a grin though his blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. Alec smiled, brushing the pad of his thumb over the hillbilly's cheek, leaning in to kiss his forehead, before stepping back, crouching, and leaping away. His heart hurt as he left, but he knew what he was doing was for the safety of the ones he loved. He just wished there was a way to go back and change a few things, make things easier for them all. If his hatred for the conman hadn't taken over his mind when he had been trying to get Ellis to go with them to a camp, then maybe they wouldn't be in this painful situation.

Growling, he shook himself out of those thoughts, following his own trail back the way he had come. He would have to get this done fast if he wished to rejoin them quickly. He didn't know how close Nick was following but Alec was sure that with the speed he had been moving, the hybrid would be a decent distance back. He found him at around midnight, loping along Alec's trail like he didn't have a care in the world. The Hunter scrambled silently into a tree as Nick drew closer, watching as he passed beneath him, not seeming to notice his presence. Narrowing his eyes, Alec shifted his weight judging how much damage he could do with an ambush. He could just try and snap the conman's neck but wasn't sure he could land on Nick's back and get that done fast enough. He didn't know what his reaction time was or if the initial startle from having Alec land on him would be enough. He also knew he couldn't fight him for long if the strength that had been displayed a few days ago was any indication.

The image of Ellis's sullen face flashed through Alec's mind again, filling him with fury. It was equally Nick's fault that Ellis wasn't the happy, optimistic, bright man he had once been. Tensing the muscles in his legs, Alec pushed off of the branch with a soft grunt, landing hard on Nick's back and driving his face into the ground. The hybrid let out a startled screech, scrambling with deadly claws as Alec made a grab at his head to snap his neck. His claws sliced across Alec's arm, leaving deep gashes that forced the Hunter to let go, a yowl tearing from him. He fell off Nick, the hybrid leaping on top of him, pinning him into the snow. Nick drew back one hand to tear out Alec's throat, making the Hunter's eyes widen. He lashed out with one arm, catching Nick in the cheek with a solid fist, sending him sprawling into the snow. Alec was on him before he could recover, digging his claws into the hybrid's sides. _Looks like I'll have to just cripple him. He's too fast. _He groaned, moving back quickly, grabbing Nick's ankle and hoisting it into the air. He slammed his foot down onto Nick's knee, making him scream in agony as his leg snapped. He used his other leg to kick Alec forcefully in the stomach and by the time the Hunter got his breath back, he was long gone, his pained screams still echoing in the desolate forest.

Pressing one hand over his still bleeding arm, Alec staggered to his feet, staring in the general direction Nick had fled. Spitting in the snow, he took in an experimental breath, feeling one of his ribs protest. He had been kicked hard enough to bruise if not crack one. Snarling to himself, he backtracked, hoping that his friends would still be in the campsite when he reached it around dawn. Given he didn't pass out from blood loss at the rate his arm was bleeding. The slashes that Nick had left were deep and were taking their time closing up. Shaking that thought away quickly, he increased his stride, determined to make it back. It wound up being about an hour before dawn when he reached the campsite. Joshua was on watch, his back to Alec, and his form slumped over his gun though he was obviously still awake. Tilting his head, Alec's mind whirled with memories of him and his brother from before the Infection and also during.

Grinning, he picked up a handful of the slushy snow, packing it as tightly as he could into a ball, and threw it at Joshua. He jumped to his feet, brushing snow from his black hair and glared into the darkness of the tree line. It was obvious that he could see Alec's glowing eyes because he aimed his gun carefully, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. "Thought you said you weren't like dad." Alec growled, creeping into the light of the fire. Joshua relaxed a fraction, though he was obviously still unsure about Alec's state of mind.

"I'm not. But I don't appreciate the snowball to the back of the head." he lowered the gun some.

"Like you never did that to me." Alec snorted, standing up straighter out of his crouched position. He narrowed his eyes at Joshua, trying not to seem hurt that his brother seemed so ready to shoot him. "You can relax, I'm not gonna attack you." he muttered, glancing away. Joshua lowed the gun all the way, sighing.

"I know. Can't help but be a bit tense with that freakish monster prowling around." he was referring to Nick, Alec knew that much.

"You won't have to worry about him for a while. I snapped one of his legs and he ran off back the way he came."

"Why didn't you snap his neck?"

"He's too fast. His reaction time was greater than I thought even though I ambushed him." Alec sighed, moving closer to Joshua. "He shouldn't be a bother for a few days though." he snorted, a pained smile on his face.

"What?"

"I'm just thinking about when dad told me that I was an accident. Way back when I was fifteen." he sat down as Joshua did. His brother hadn't heard this yet, obvious confusion on his face. "I was home sick from that private school he had us going to. He pulled me into his office and told me, bluntly, that I was an accident. That I wasn't meant to be born. He even told me that he wanted an abortion but that mom said no."

"Why would he tell you something like that?"

"Because the sorry bastard hated me. Why else? He didn't kill me on purpose, leaving me to suffer, because he hated me. I don't understand why he didn't ship me to China or Korea or somewhere when I was old enough to walk to be sold as a pet or slave..."

Joshua's eyes grew huge at that. "Alec... stop thinking this way. It doesn't suit you. And as far as I'm concerned, you're probably the best accident out there. Between Max, Patrick, you, and Rachael, you were and still are my favorite sibling." he grinned, sitting beside his brother. "Quit mulling over shit that happened in the past would ya? There's no way to change it now."

"Uh huh... tell me. What happened to the timid, never speak unless spoken to Josh that I grew up with?" he smirked as his brother's face dusted pink. "If I recall correctly, you were petrified of me when you first joined up with this ragtag group."

"I was. Only because I watched what you did to dad and wasn't sure if I would have a similar fate." when Alec was silent for a while, a horrified expression crossed the shorter brother's face. "You were planning on killing me weren't you."

"Yeah. But I knew that once Ellis had met you I would have never heard the end of it if I even thought of hurting you." he snorted, resting his chin in one palm. "You can thank him for it." he sighed and let himself collapse onto his back, his arms spread out to the sides. "Maybe once Nick is out of the picture things can _finally _go back to some form of normal." he closed his hands into a fist as he spoke. He saw Joshua smile and shake his head, laying his gun across his lap. He and Alec hadn't really had any true interaction since he had joined up with them and he was glad that it seemed their bond was starting to form again. He loved his brother dearly, not believing that their father could be so cruel as to tell Alec that he wasn't meant to be born. Joshua was glad that their mother had been kind enough for her and their father and had put her foot down when he had supposedly suggested an abortion. He honestly didn't think his life would be half as complete without his rough around the edges little brother at his side.

_**Horrible place to stop. I'm so tired though... hope this isn't as bad as I think it is. I know it kinda skips some but I'll smooth it out tomorrow or Sunday. I go back to school Monday so the updates are gonna slow to a crawl again. Happy New Year y'all. May it be a safe and blessed one.**_


	27. Pieces

Separated

_**Being a resident of South East Texas, I have no concept of cold. If I get the climate of Colorado in early November wrong, please let me know and I'll remedy it.**_

Chapter 27- Pieces; _RED_

_'Then I see your face, I know I'm finally yours. I find everything I thought I lost before, you call my name. I come to you in pieces so you can make me whole.'_

"_It is by chance that we met, but by choice that we became friends."- Unknown_

Joshua had fallen asleep after about ten minutes of silence, obviously being more tired than he had originally let on. Alec couldn't help but grin as his brother slumped over his gun, soft snores rumbling from his throat. The Hunter had continued to stare at the slowly lightening sky, pale gray clouds rolling into his line of sight. He didn't hear any movement but he almost jumped out of his skin when a hand clamped over his throat with enough pressure to make his startled screech come out as the sound of a cat being squeezed a bit too hard. His initial jump had also woken up Joshua via a heavy shoe ramming into his knee. Alec glared up at his assailant, realizing quickly that it was Philo. "What the hell's the matter with you?" he spat, placing one hand around Philo's wrist to lighten the pressure he was applying.

"You'd better hope that Ellis was right when he said you were alright." the Smoker hissed, protective instinct shining his his single milky yellow eye. "If you hurt any one of us I swear-"

"Who do you think you're talking to giraffe-tongue. I wouldn't have shown up if I didn't think you would be safe around me." he narrowed his burning red eyes, daring Philo to say anything against it. He understood the protectiveness he displayed but didn't appreciate being strangled. Philo narrowed his single eye some but released Alec regardless, moving back slowly. The Hunter's stomach twisted into a cold knot when he saw the remaining scar tissue of the stump where his other arm had been up close.

Ellis had been woken up as well by the sudden commotion. He was sitting on the other side of the almost burned out fire watching the almost violent interaction between the Hunter and Smoker. He didn't speak, watching intently as Philo examined Alec for any hint of deceit. "So how'd ya figure out how to control it?" Philo asked gruffly.

"Caden enlightened me." was Alec's only reply. It seemed to be enough for the Smoker because a second later his face broke into a huge grin and he gave the Hunter a friendly, though awkward, hug.

"Its good to have you back frog-legs." he chuckled, patting Alec on the shoulder. The Hunter smirked at him, rising to his feet, a strange gleam in his eyes. Philo seemed to realize what the Hunter was thinking because he let out a raspy yell as Alec jumped on him, grabbing his tongue and running off. He tied it to a tree in a tight knot, scrambling above it and cackling madly. "You haven't changed at all damn it!" Philo hissed, stalking to the tree where the appendage was now knotted and tugging on it.

"You shouldn't 'ave expected anything less." Ellis said from his place by the fire with a slight chuckle.

"Well I said before that the hard ass personality he had taken on didn't suit him." Alec replied, grinning at Philo's attempt at a death glare. "And the tongue torture will never stop. What did you honestly think would happen once I showed back up? That I would be as subdued as a sick old man?" he snorted, jumping out of the tree and dodging a swipe from Philo.

"I had hoped." the Smoker grunted, not really meaning it. The knot was too tight for him to get undone with just one hand and Joshua seemed disinclined to untie it. Alec wouldn't do it and he wouldn't let Ellis do it even if Philo had thought to ask him. He realized quite quickly that Alec was trying to push what had happened in Silverton and Ouray to the back of their minds. He was trying to get things back to the way they had been before all the rebellion nonsense. Sighing, he bit down hard on the tongue, snapping it off and holding one hand over his mouth to stop the yellow-green blood from flowing down his chin. Alec made a gagging noise behind him, earning a glare when the Smoker turned around. He would have leaped at him but he had already taken up his place next to Ellis, seeming to be doing a very good imitation of a lost puppy who had finally made its way home. It wasn't all together untrue. "So I' guessin you're back for good?"

"God I hope so." Alec snorted, shifting his weight in his crouched position. "Nick's more or less a cripple now and ran back that way. Snapped his leg so he'll be outta our hair for a while." he nodded in the direction he had come from noticing how the other three seemed to relax right away. He could understand right. Nick had been a thorn in their sides and a pain in their asses for far too long and he hoped that the opportunity to finish him off would come soon. But not before they all recovered some more and found a place to shelter for a couple weeks at least, hide from the elements. Winter was coming and coming hard if the snow that was freezing back into place instead of being slush was any indication. Without any way to predict the weather other than looking at the sky there was no way to know when a possible blizzard would catch them in the middle of crossing a mountain. A cabin or something was in order.

"Well we're gonna try'n find a cabin or a town or somethin to hide out in for the winter." Philo sighed, having cleared blood from his mouth. It was obvious that he had taken on a leadership position during Alec's absence. The Hunter didn't blame him and really didn't let it bother him. He just nodded, stood with Ellis and followed the Smoker through a pass. It looked down onto a small valley with various trees dotting it and a half frozen waterfall trickling to the bottom. It had taken about an hour to reach it so Alec was confident that Nick, who was probably licking his wounds, was far behind them and that their trail would be covered by any in coming snow or rain.

He was oddly silent, looking around for an easy way down the rocky slope beside the waterfall that would take them into the valley. This struck his three companions as odd seeing as he would always have some form of noise coming from him whether it be growling, thoughtful muttering, or any other varied sound. But they were just glad to have him back to normal so they didn't question it. "Ah, there." he suddenly said, shuffling over closer to the waterfall. "Looks a little icy but it'll do. Just watch your footing. A dip in that'll freeze you in minutes." he sniffed at the icy water, slipping down the first rock, watching his companions move to follow him. Ellis went first with Joshua hard on his heels and Philo trailing behind, having some problems with balance because of his lack of an arm. Alec tested the surface of each stone and ledge before stepping on it. He slipped four times in the first two minutes of the journey down which made the other three wary. If a sure-footed Hunter was having problems what would happen to them.

It took an hour but they eventually made it to the valley floor with only a few scrapes and bruises. Nothing they couldn't handle. It turned out the forested valley was larger than they first realized. "Think there's a cabin here somewhere?" Joshua inquired, glancing around warily.

"Maybe." Ellis replied, drumming his fingers on the barrel of his gun. He was aware of Alec's presence, reassuring, at his shoulder as the Hunter peered through the trees in search of any form of civilization. There was none within his sight but that didn't mean there wouldn't be somewhere in the valley. It was a prime chunk of real estate if what they had seen from above was anything to go by. They shuffled through the frozen area cautiously, not sure what might lay ahead. A small dirt path alongside the stream that the waterfall formed pointed them in the right direction. It was several more hours before they found anything though, the path winding along the stream and sometimes getting lost in the snow when it curved into the forest. The four spent more time getting lost than finding shelter and the freezing wind that bit into them didn't really help their moods either. "Oh sweet salvation." Ellis breathed when the dirt road turned into a gravel driveway and that into a yard that lead up to a large two story cabin.

"Damn. This is pretty impressive." Joshua commented with a low whistle.

"Coming from the million dollar kid." Ellis countered, hearing Alec let out a low chuckle from behind him, breaking into a grin himself. Joshua had the grace to allow his face to dust pink, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's see what this thing has got goin for it." the hillbilly continued, striding toward the door. It was locked but Alec's skillful claws soon made short work of the dead bolt. The inside was dark and dusty, obviously abandoned though fully stocked with furniture. And a fire place which made all four sigh with relief. It was only minimally warmer inside than outside so Philo used his lighter, useless since he had long since run out of cigarettes, to light a fire with a couple logs in the fireplace while the other three explored. It looked like an old hunting cabin, varied animal heads hanging on the walls and the classic roaring bear in a dark corner to scare the skin off of any unsuspecting person. Or Alec, who almost ran into it, screamed and hid behind Ellis, startled out of his wits. Philo and Joshua came running to see what was wrong only to find Ellis laughing hysterically and Alec looking mortified, his face matching his eyes wonderfully.

There were three bedrooms upstairs and two bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. The kitchen had some old canned foods in it and oddly colored fuzzy things in the refrigerator, but it would make due. The only problem was heat. With no electricity the heater wouldn't work and it would be a long cold winter without one if they opted to stay in the cabin. They did when it started snowing lightly around dusk. Better to stay in the cabin near the fireplace than freeze outside looking for the off chance of one with a working heater. Alec laid on his back on a multicolored weave rug close to the fire, puffing out a big sigh. Ellis sat beside him, his back pressed against the Hunter's side as he watched the fire. Joshua and Philo had gone out to collect more firewood that they had noticed near a shed on the side of the building.

Ellis relished Alec's warmth, listening to his steady, easy breathing. It didn't take him long to realize the Hunter had fallen asleep, surprised but not at the same time. Knowing his stubbornness issues, Alec wouldn't have slept at all until he found his companions. He probably hadn't eaten much either which worried the hillbilly. With winter upon them they had to be at the top of their game, full fed and healthy. Soon Alec's breathing turned soft snores and he rolled onto his side, moving closer to Ellis's back sensing the warmth in his sleep. Ellis smiled at that, looking down at him. He realized then just how ragged the Hunter looked with his hair matted down by sweat and blood and his face, arms, and hands streaked with it. Furrowing his eyebrows, he contemplated trying to scrub him down but figured that that would have to wait a couple days until they got a niche carved out in the cabin and some form of full-house heat going. Maybe everything ran on gas. It was plausible for the building being out in the sticks.

Philo and Joshua came back in about five minutes later, their hair and shoulders covered in powdery snow and their forms trembling from the cold. The piled the wood by the fire, taking a seat beside Ellis and Alec's sleeping form. "I'm amazed." Philo commented. "He actually fell asleep."

"Well lord knows he probably hasn't gotten much rest in the past week." Ellis replied, keeping his voice low. "Besides, its not like you never doze off."

"Never said I didn't. But its a rare day when frog-legs lets himself sleep without it being pitch black and everyone else already outta it." the Smoker grinned, evil plans forming in his mind. "I say we string him from the banister as a punishment for worrying us so much." he snickered, glancing at the thick wood banister that provided a false barrier between the den and dining room areas. Ellis rolled his eyes, not replying. Joshua had it covered for him anyway.

"That's awful mean. Its not like he could help it."

"Oh I know. But its still fun." when no one protested any further, he stood up, moving quietly over to the area below the banister, using his tongue to pull himself up onto it before lassoing Alec's ankles, pulling him slowly backwards and praying he was in a deep sleep. When the Hunter was close enough, Philo jumped down, yanking the other into the air with enough force to wake him up. When it registered that he was hanging in midair and was upside down, the Hunter screeched, flailing his arms and trying to move his legs.

"Philo I swear to god you are so dead!" he snarled, swinging his upper body up and slicing through the tongue that held him hostage. He landed on the wood floor hard, scrambling to his feet and chasing after Philo who ran away cackling. "Get back here you mangy talking cigar! I'll tear you to pieces!" he yelled, following the Smoker up the stairs to the second floor. Ellis and Joshua exchanged a look, shaking their heads and chuckling. They both looked at the stairs when they heard a thump, a yelp, and incoherent protests from Philo. Alec strutted back down the stairs wiping his hands on his pants.

"What did you do?" Ellis asked, hiding a grin.

"Hog tied him. I wanted to throw him out the window but its snowing harder." Alec sniffed, taking a seat beside Ellis. Things continued in a similar fashion for about a week. As the seventh day drew to a close, Alec realized something was off in the air. The only thing it could be was the military closing in or Nick. He assumed it was the second, but prayed it was the first. At least the military would be easy to deal with. It wasn't like the hadn't had enough practice. At dawn on the eighth day, he knew something was wrong when he found tracks in the thick snow outside the cabin. They reeked of Nick and that instantly put him on alert, all his senses strained to pinpoint any possible place where the hybrid could hide out and wait until Ellis was undefended.

He was in the process of turning to go back into the cabin when he was driven into the powdery snow. Letting out a loud screech, Alec kicked out with his powerful legs, sending the attacker flying into a pine tree. The tree shuddered, dropping snow all over Nick as he stood up, a furiously insane expression on his face. Alec growled, painfully aware of Ellis in the den just on the other side of the door, praying he would stay inside or at least get to the second floor if he was going to attempt to help. It was just him and Ellis at the cabin with Joshua and Philo gone to look for a possible town near by and not due back until around twilight. "You'll never get him shit head so just stop trying before it gets you killed." Alec hissed, jumping to the side as Nick tried to make a run for the cabin door.

With Alec now in his way, he jumped on the Hunter again, digging his claws into his shoulders as he was forced to the ground again. He attempted to shred Alec now that he was at his mercy but the Hunter slammed their foreheads together, his own vision going dangerously fuzzy from the head trauma he was still recovering from. When Nick staggered back, Alec tackled him, slicing long gashes across his belly. Nick countered with a bite to the arm, growling and shaking his head like a rabid dog as he tried to remove a chunk of flesh like he had in Silverton. Alec slammed his claws into the hybrid's face, forcing him to let go but a swift hand to Alec's cheek removed the Hunter from Nick's stomach, also leaving Alec open to further attack. Nick took advantage of it, leaping onto Alec while he was stunned from the blow and driving his claws into Alec's chest, tearing away skin and spilling his blood, turning the snow red.

A crack split the air and Nick froze up. Blood splattered onto Alec's face from a hole between the hybrid's eyes. Nick's eyes rolled back into his head and he fell over. Alec shoved him off of him, his breath ragged and his face, arm, and chest stinging and burning from the fresh wounds. He looked to the cabin, seeing Ellis standing in the doorway with a hunting rifle till held to his eye, which he slowly lowered, his face carefully passive. _Its finally over... _Alec breathed to himself, not believing it. He couldn't dwell on the fact that Nick, a constant source of their pain and misery, was dead. Killed by the very person he had intended to capture and make his own at the very least.

His blood was still pouring onto the snow as Ellis ran toward him, the gun forgotten on the porch. The Hunter's body slumped as Ellis reached him, only stopped from falling face first into the snow by Ellis wrapping a hand around his shoulder. "Easy Alec. I got ya." he muttered, pulling the Hunter into his grasp and hauling him back inside. He laid him on the floor near the fireplace, grabbing a med kit from the bathroom. He ripped Alec's shirt open, memories of the first time he had had contact with him flooding his mind, and started applying gauze and bandages of all sorts, antiseptic as well to prevent infections. When the Hunter's arm and chest were fully treated, he carefully cleaned off the two claw marks that ran from the corner of Alec's mouth to his jawline and placed some band aids over it. He then sat beside Alec, relief and fear battling it out in him. Relief because Nick was finally gone, and fear because he didn't know if Alec would make it with the combination of cold and the amount of blood he had lost. He could just sit and hope and wait until Philo and Joshua got back to clean up the corpse in the yard.

_**Ugh finally Nick's gone. Now don't get me wrong I love Nick in the actual game. He's a close second to Ellis. But I was getting sick of writing all this angst with him. Hope I wrote a satisfactory scene for his death. Hope the chapter's better than I think it is... god... to my eyes it seems like crap just 'cause of where it goes. And the story ain't over yet, not by a long shot so you have several more chapters to look forward to. Reviews are loved, appreciated, and kept close to my heart for inspiration! **_


	28. Louder Than Thunder

Separated

_**Oh... my... midterms... Geeze, last week was hellacious. I had to take all my damn midterms 'cause I had missed too many days to exempt any of 'em. So I've been burned out for a while and seeing dancing shrooms before my eyes. Hope this chapter turns out alright!**_

Chapter 28- Louder Than Thunder; _The Devil Wears Prada_

_'What would it take for things to be quiet? Quiet like the snow, and I know that his isn't much but I know I could, I could be better.'_

"_Who can be wise, amazed, temperate, and furious, loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man."- William Shakespeare_

It had been two weeks since Nick's death. Philo and Joshua had come back at dawn the next day to find his frozen corpse still in the front yard with a trail of blood leading inside. When they ran inside with panic clear on their faces, they were met with the sight of Ellis staring blankly at the fireplace with the still form of Alec stretched out on the couch behind him. His chest and stomach was wrapped up tightly and his breath was dragging in and out of his lungs in forced, ragged gasps. He had woken up screeching three days later, scaring the other three residents of the cabin. Now, two weeks later, the peace they had adjusted to was broken yet again.

Ellis got a cold. A bad one that was quickly getting worse. He couldn't breathe without opening his mouth and when he did breathe he coughed hard enough to make even Philo wince. He had a fever that drove Alec out of their shared bed on the second night of futilely fighting against the illness from the heat of it. He also threw up anything he tried to eat. It was obvious that this sickness wasn't going to go away on its own and Philo had stated that the town they had discovered was fifteen miles away and half of it was bombed out. They spent several hours arguing about who would go to the town to search for medication before Alec, with extreme reluctance, volunteered to go.

"I can move the fastest so I'll be back in two days at the most if I do a full search of the town." he grunted, crossing his arms. He winced as ragged coughs oozed down the stairs from the upstairs bedroom and swallowed. "The sooner we get him better the better." he muttered, studying the floor.

"You're sure." Joshua stated, raising an eyebrow at his brother. When Alec gave him a flat look back, he shrugged. "Alright. I'm just saying, the two of you have been separated too many times." he exchanged a quick look with Philo. "Hell I can practically see the bond you share with him in the air."

"Yeah. And when yer gone frog-legs," Philo cut in, ignoring the automatic growl he got in response to the name, "his entire demeanor changes."

"Stop trying to make me feel guilty. I'm doing this for him aren't I?" Alec snapped back. "I'll be back in two days. Three days maximum. I'm sure that Ellis will understand." though he could feel his stomach churning at the thought, this journey was necessary in every way. With it being winter and with so much snow falling, if they let the illness go too long it might cost Ellis his life. They had come too far for him to be killed by something so easy to beat off. "I may as well leave now..." he continued with a sigh, gazing briefly into the fireplace, the fire reflecting eerily in his deep red eyes.

Philo nodded, silently moving up the stairs to check on Ellis while Joshua remained where he was. "Don't worry Alec," he said, seeing the obvious discomfort on the Hunter's face. He continued when Alec turned to him, placing a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "We won't let anything happen to him. Promise." he offered Alec a small smile, his blue eyes twinkling with a comforting, brotherly love. Alec didn't reply, he just forced a grin, moved back, grabbed a coat that had been found in one of the three closets in the cabin, and exited the warm building. Pulling the coat on over his black camouflage vest that had also been salvaged, and the old bloody shirt he had had since Ouray but couldn't part with because of the sad lack of clothes in the cabin and the winter air, he shivered. He had never really liked winter that much even though he had lived in several states where it was frigid. He preferred fall, and even then, the type of fall that was found in Florida or Alabama. The kind where it didn't get too cold but it didn't remain hot either.

Shaking himself, he sucked in a breath of the dry, freezing air and crouched. The feeling of his muscles coiling for the first leap allowed energy to being flowing through his veins, flooding his brain with small doses of adrenaline. Pushing off the snowy ground in a cloud of the powdery ice crystals, he bounced off the first branch of a pine tree before him, sending the snow it held to the ground, and leaped again. His claws scraped across bark in a pleasing way and his muscles burned as blood pumped through them, warming up his entire system. His breath puffed out in clouds of fog before his face as he leaped longer. The white snow below and around him flashed in the noon sun, sparkling in dazzling colors, making him briefly forget the tragedies that had happened in the past nine or thereabouts months. But that moment was very brief, for just the way he was traveling alone wrenched all those memories back to the front of Alec's mind.

He paused for half an hour to catch his breath once he had traveled what he felt was half the distance from the cabin to the town. He panted raggedly, taking in his surroundings. Hilly, snowy, pine forest with mountains looming closely almost seeming like he was being watched by the massive stone faces. There was no wildlife to be seen but that didn't mean there wasn't any. He had passed over many deer and elk as well as other small forest creatures. Several Infected as well but without any form of shelter or warm cover, they would freeze in the months to come.

Once the half hour was up, Alec continued his leaping. He hoped to get at least a mile from the town before it got too dark for him to safely travel, even with better night vision than a human. He didn't want to smash into a tree and break his neck, defeating the entire purpose of this journey and topping the chart of fails in leaping as a Hunter. Grinning some at that thought, Alec pushed himself harder, his face becoming stony again against the cold air that whipped at his hair and stung his face and eyes. The journey would take significantly longer if he weren't different from other Infected. As far as he knew, because he was faster, stronger, and could see, hear, and smell better, he was one of a kind. And all thanks to the incident at the testing facility. Something good had come out of that, or at least that was what he told himself.

The moon was rising, nothing but a crescent, in the sky by the time he saw the town. It wasn't big but it wasn't small. Philo had been right when he had said half of it had been bombed out. There were destroyed buildings everywhere, dotted throughout the town. It looked very much like how Silverton must but on a larger scale. Growling, Alec descended the road and moved toward the first buildings, small houses that looked like they had been abandoned forever. He didn't even see a sign for the town on the way in which was odd but he didn't let it bother him. Sliding down a small hill, he continued toward the center of the town before noticing a light.

A fire had been lit in a metal trash barrel. And it had been recent. There were uneven footprints in the snow leading to and away from it. Taking in the air around him with his mouth hanging open some to get a better sample, he let out a soft growl when it registered as human. He couldn't quite tell if they were immune or not just from the small trail that was left but someone was here and they had claimed this town as their own. Another barrel was lit down the street, illuminating a couple shop windows and some rubble. The Hunter moved cautiously toward it, his fingers curled some into menacing talons. He paused by one of the shops, glancing at the sign. _"Ridgeway Outdoor Experience" _was all it read in faded letters. Alec snorted at it, defiantly not what he wanted but he had a town name now. And he hadn't even really reached the actual place yet.

He jogged down the rest of the street, passing several lit barrels on the way. He paused though when he heard movement inside a building that said _"True Grit Cafe." _It sounded like shuffling and voices. Moving closer to a broken window, he ducked down into a crouch when the voices grew louder. "God... it seems like every stupid bumfuck passes through here..." growled a female voice, human, but rough. "From survivors to Infected, they only talk about the damned war."

"Boy don't you have the vocabulary." snorted a male voice. "You have a point though."

"Of course I do. Now where's that med-kit we had in here earlier?" there was the sound of moving furniture and uneven shuffling steps. "I will forever hate Chargers. That charge was completely uncalled for."

"Yeah you were only shooting at it. Here." a chair screeched across the floor and a heavy sigh came from the male. "I don't see why we still go out and light those barrels every night. All it does is waste matches seeing as we're in the middle of nowhere out here."

There was a brief silence before the female replied, her voice muffled. "Its called hope though there's not much room for it as of late." the sound of tearing gauze and medical tape followed and when she spoke again her voice was clearer. "Tonight's the last night we're doing that though. Its just not worth it if all it draws is trouble." a small amount of light illuminated the room as a candle was lit but it still wasn't enough for Alec to judge appearances through the frosty, dirty window and all the furniture piled near the break. "How did we end up way out here in Colorado when you lived on the east coast and I lived on the Gulf coast anyway?"

"That would have been the agreement to meet up in Oklahoma that you forced upon me-"

"Hey, I forced nuttin upon you. You couldn't agree fast enough." the female cut in, an indignant tone lacing her voice. Alec could place a slight, worn out southern accent now that she had said 'Gulf coast' but didn't think it was anything important for the moment.

"Anyway..." the male grunted, his chair squeaking as he leaned forward. "I think what happened was, we just started traveling until the Infected and military thinned out. And seeing as this town isn't even big enough to be on a map of the state, I don't believe we'll be bothered here for a while."

"But remember, the military was moving north from Durango. I heard they took an Infected-controlled town, Silverton I think, through bombing and invasion. But the Infected moved way far north and took Ouray. Being way out in the middle of nothing, I haven't heard anything else."

"So that makes me think you got that old radio working?"

"Briefly."

"Right... and now with your leg more or less broken, I'm on my own with fortifying this place." Alec realized at that point that he was wasting time. He couldn't find out anything from these two that he didn't already know and he doubted they would help him willingly so he backed up. He froze however when his foot hit a trash can, which fell over loudly, drawing silence from the two in the cafe. He scrambled away when the chair scraped on the floor suddenly and the window was shattered by a shotgun blast. Scrambling onto the roof of a building beside the cafe as the door slammed open, Alec ducked down, praying he wouldn't be seen and shot. The male stepped out, brandishing a shotgun. He scanned the road, then turned his eyes to the roofs, forcing Alec to inch back before he was spotted.

"What in the hell are you doing?" the female practically snarled, uneven footsteps sounding in the darkness. She paused for a moment, obviously looking around. "Whatever it was its gone now. Let's get back inside before we freeze to death. I'm too southern to deal with this much damn snow..." there was no reply from the male but only one set of footsteps, even and sure, went back inside. The female remained for a while, drawing Alec's curiosity. He crept to the edge of the roof, as low as he could get to the cold surface and looked down at her. Average height, hair that looked like it had recently been cut with rusty scissors, but a stooped posture. Her left leg was held precariously above the ground as she stood in the snow. "Come inside..." she muttered, seeming to not even realize she had said anything for she looked around with wide eyes for a moment before limping inside.

Alec remained where he was, still as a corpse until the small candle had been blown out and he heard nothing but silence from the cafe. Curiosity driving him, he slid down the side of the shop he was hidden on and peered into the open doorway of the cafe. What was left of the door was leaned against the wall, allowing freezing air inside. He could hear soft breathing inside but couldn't see either human which meant they were probably bunked behind the small bar that was in the back of the room he was looking at to hide from some of the cold wind. Slowly and silently, he moved inside, his red eyes illuminated in the darkness like those of a cat as he looked around. He had made it a couple meters from the door when a heavy form slammed into him, sending him to the ground, both of them sliding across the dusty wood. Screeching, Alec twisted his body, his muscles flexing as he hooked one foot into the stomach of his assailant and swung his leg to the side hard. Flipping into a crouch, he pounced after them as their form slammed into some old tables but he was grabbed mid air and pinned with his arms behind his back on his stomach. Snarling, he tried to get his legs under him but the other person pinned them down just as one foot gained traction on the ground.

One hand clamped down on the back of his neck, the other still holding his arms together. He was at the mercy of these two humans now. Forcing himself to go limp, he huffed out a breath, almost sneezing at the dust he inhaled. His only thought was what would happen to his companions if these two decided to kill him. Would Philo or Joshua be able to make the journey to the town to look for the medicine Ellis needed? Or would they wait, thinking Alec got delayed, allowing Ellis to get worse until the illness killed him? He couldn't stop the soft whimper that pulled from his throat at that thought, pressing his forehead to the wood floor and closing his eyes as his heart twisted. His breath trembled with his body as he sucked in air raggedly, feeling the hand that held his neck loosen some. A murmur passed between the two humans. The one holding his legs released him and the one on his back slid off but didn't stand up right away until footsteps drew closer to them.

Alec waited a heartbeat longer before turning his head to look at them, pulling his arms under his chest some. The male had one arm under the female's helping her stand. Her knee was held stiff by a thick layer of gauze and medical tape. The male was taller than she was with shoulder length hair and suspicious eyes. Her's were cold chips of ice in the darkness, glaring down at the Hunter's form. "You'd better pray you're intelligent." she grunted evenly.

Alec winced but nodded. "I am." he whispered.

"Well sit up then." the male stated, both of them relaxing and his hand dropping from her arm now that she had her feet under her. "We don't get very many intelligent ones around here. Not much of anything actually." he seemed thoughtful, the suspicious light dying from his eyes.

"Where're you coming from?" she picked up where he left off.

"Fifteen miles down the road. One of my companions is sick and if I don't get him medicine soon he might die." Alec swallowed thickly as they exchanged a look and gathered his thoughts, forcing them into some form of order. "Do you know where I might find some?" he tried to sound hopeful but he still figured he might be on his own. With the female being injured, they might not be willing to help out a stranger, and Infected stranger, until she had recovered. And Alec didn't have that sort of time.

Both were silent before the male motioned her away. She limped behind him, her face stony against whatever amount of pain she was experiencing. They spoke quietly on the opposite side of the room from Alec, both seeming to get more worked up as they did so because their gestures and hand motions got more frequent and a bit more wild. The male snapped something that made the female recoil for a heartbeat before she replied something quietly that made him straighten up, shock written across his features. She limped back to Alec, glaring over her shoulder briefly before turning her icy eyes back to the Hunter. "I'll help you. He'll have to make up his mind by morning." she forced a grin. "He'll come around." with another glance over her shoulder as the male moved into a back room without a word, she continued. "Feel free to stay here for the night. Its not safe to be moving around here when its dark. You never know what you might run into." she said nothing else, didn't give a name, didn't ask for his, she just sat down near the door in an old booth and leaned her back against the cold window, closing her eyes.

Alec remained silent for about ten minutes, not moving from his spot. The male reentered the main room just as he was about to stretch out on his back and try to sleep. A half hearted glare was directed the Hunter's way but the human broke the glare off with a sigh, sitting down and putting his back against the bar. The Hunter's head throbbed as he tried to figure out what was up with these two. While the seemed to get along fine they seemed to have a pretty large difference in opinion when it came down to certain things. It also seemed that both of them were too stubborn to compromise. Sighing quietly, he laid on his back and closed his eyes, trying to beat away the headache that was making his head pound.

_**And yay for a bad place to leave off. But, very much like Alec, I have a headache that can be contributed to keeping up with a year and a half year old toddler most of today while also tending to a sick cat. Anyway, more about those two humans will be explained next chapter and any of you who can figure out who they are will get a cookie and possibly a request from me on my deviantArt page (which has the same name), y'all just gotta get both of them right. Heh heh. Anyway, reviews are loved and used as Asprin.**_


	29. Life is Beautiful

Separated

_**Oh my god... two hundred reviews? *Dies* That's... wow, that's really an honor. Thank you everyone who's reviewed, faved, alerted, and all around read this story from the deepest depths of my heart. Really, its mind blowing and appreciated more than I can express. I hope to keep y'all happy with further chapters!**_

Chapter 29- Life is Beautiful; _Sixx A.M._

_'I've know some things that you don't. I've done things that you won't, there's nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home. I was waiting for my hearse but what came next was so much worse. It took a funeral to make me feel alive.'_

"_For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck your people with a plague that would have wiped your people off the Earth."- Exodus 9:15_

When Alec woke up, there was a light snow falling. He was cold and stiff and when he sat up his spine crackled like fall leaves that had been stepped on. Rubbing his eyes with the heel of one palm, he yawned, briefly wondering where he was before a soft snore startled him. Looking toward the front of the shop, he saw that the female from the night before was still there, sound asleep and trembling from the cold. The male had laid out on his side and was curled into a light ball on the wood floor, shivering slightly. Standing up silently, he peered over the bar where he had assumed they had originally been. No blankets or any signs they had even been back there. Furrowing his eyebrows, he moved over to the female.

Her injured leg was stiff in front of her and her arms remained crossed over her chest. She was wearing a bloody and slightly torn up black leather motorcycle jacket and the remnants of a tee-shirt poked out of the bottom of it. Her hair was a silvery-brown color, a couple of sun-bleached dirty blonde streaks in it and was raggedly cut but had a wave to what was there. She had a long scar across the bridge of her nose and right beside her left eye that looked like they had just healed. She had a stocky frame, broad shoulders and a short torso, short hands and thin wrists. Without a single sound, Alec moved to the male. He was long framed, long legs and a long torso. His hair was a medium brown color, that also had a slight wave to it. He was wearing bloody torn jeans and a tee-shirt under a thick jacket. Both of them looked to be in their teens, far too young to have to go through all this. Then again, Alec had just turned twenty one when the Infection hit so he would be considered too young too. Hell even surly old Bill could be considered too young.

Moving away, Alec slipped toward the door, peering outside to get a look at the town now that it was light out. The sun poked out from behind one gray cloud, illuminating the small mountain town. It brought new meaning to 'old and run down.' It may have been nice once upon a time, but with all the destruction caused by the bombing and the Infection in general, it looked awful. In his line of sight, he couldn't see any drug stores or gas stations which made him deflate in disappointment. Knowing his luck, they would all be destroyed. He was tempted to just go off and try and find them but figured that if the two humans had been here long enough they would know the town and he would be able to get back to Ellis that much faster. Given they woke up before noon.

They woke up only five minutes apart from each other, the male being the first to rise. He and Alec got into a brief staring contest before he looked away and busied himself with cleaning some dried blood off his shotgun. The female woke up with a sneeze, groaning and muttering something about coffee. She didn't seem to be fully aware of her surroundings for a couple minutes, then she slid out of the booth she was in and stood up on uneasy feet. "Holy shit I need pain killers." she grunted, lifting her injured leg off the ground.

The male snorted, a reluctant grin twitching onto his expression. "Well its a good thing we're gonna go to a drug store now isn't it?" she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yes I decided to go along. With your crap eyes and lameness you can never be too careful." she scowled at that.

"Hey let's not forget who's the better sniper here." she stated, scratching her side. Now that Alec could see her face clearly, he realized that she had a slight glaze to her eyes which were a gray-blue color, and that they seemed to be slightly unfocused. She must have felt his curious stare because she turned toward him and grinned. "All I see is blurry crap once things get past three inches in front of my nose."

"Her glasses broke when she couldn't get out of the way of a Hunter pounce about a month ago." the male continued, standing up and hefting his shotgun over his back and yawning. His eyes hardened when he looked at Alec, and he tilted his head some. "I hope you don't give us a reason to shoot you."

"Oh lay off would you?" the female snapped at him, scowling. "Has he given us a reason to distrust him?" when she received no reply she snorted. "Exactly. Let's go." she didn't wait for a response. She just half limped, half marched, past Alec and out the door, not pausing to make sure they followed. Alec started after her but a hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him, also startling him.

"I'm being dead serious. She may trust you but I don't. We've had too many incidents where someone we trusted turned against us." he practically growled, his voice as hard as his eyes, which were like chips of ice. He released Alec and stared at him pointedly. The Hunter studied him for a heartbeat more before turning wordlessly and following the girl. Now he really didn't know what to make of these two. It almost seemed like the male had taken on the female's coldness from the night before. He understood the suspicion but didn't appreciate the threats. He had done nothing to them without being provoked, and had hardly said anything to them. But if they had been repeatedly betrayed by people they at least considered familiar acquaintances it was no wonder the male was ready to shoot Alec if he made any threatening moves.

It didn't take them long to catch up to the female, who was waiting impatiently at a corner. She looked between them, her eyes hardening some and a frown pulling at her mouth but she didn't say anything. A cold silence formed between the three as they navigated the small roads of the town. They eventually came to a small drugstore that had been borded up but was completely intact. "Think those claws of yours can tear down the plywood?" she asked Alec, raising an eyebrow.

"Hell, I don't know. Haven't tried anything like that yet. _I _open doors like a normal person." that drew a snort from both of them but a good humored one. That made Alec relax some as the tension in the air lifted a fraction. If he could make them trust him a little bit then things would be easier for all of them. "A well placed shotgun blast might do it too." he glanced at the male who shrugged.

"Well we need to conserve all the bullets we have so... put those claws to work." the female poked him lightly in the arm, nodding toward the drug store. Alec sighed, getting a sneaking suspicion that he was about to make a fool of himself and approached the building. Studying the plywood laid over the door, he didn't see any place where he could easily slip his claws in and pull it off except the top and he would have to hang from it to apply enough force to pull it away. One eye twitching in irritation, Alec hopped up, hooking his clawed fingers over the top of the wood, planted his feet against the middle, and pulled, grunting from the effort. It came away slowly at first then suddenly popped loose, sending him to the snowy ground below with a startled yelp. Shoving the wood off him and standing up, feeling snow stick to his back, he repeated the process for the other side then wrenched the doors open, waiting for some sort of security alarm but none started. It must have been disabled. "Good job." the girl said behind him. She wasn't looking at him when he turned though, instead she was bent over, prodding at her knee.

"That's going to need an actual splint isn't it?" the male asked, peering at her with concern shining in his eyes.

"Yeah. Its starting to swell." she straightened up and shrugged. "May as well make use of this place. Its more fortified than the cafe anyway."

"All our ammo and weapons are back there though."

"But there's not a lot of it. After we help him out we can go and get it." she nodded toward Alec, who was peering into the store cautiously, looking and smelling for any form of a threat.

"You're right. Why _are_ we helping him anyway?" he sounded genuinely curious, no trace of his previous hostility to be found.

"I don't know. 'Cause it fills us with warmth and fluff?" she shook her head. "It feels nice to be doing something productive instead of running and shooting and barely surviving." she sighed, limping forward, her leg throbbing with each step.

"We're gonna have to go to a different town once your leg gets healed up. There's not much wildlife around here and what food we have is going to run out fast." he hummed thoughtfully before continuing, following her inside and vaguely noting where the Hunter had moved to. "But with it being winter and the nearest town being who knows how many miles away... that's going to be a challenge."

"Everything else hasn't been?" she looked at him from where she was searching for splint kits and raised an eyebrow.

"I never said that. But, between defending ourselves, getting enough food and not freezing... it might just be smarter to wait until spring then move on. Hopefully all the food left in the town will be enough to sustain the two of us."

"It should be. I mean, there's bound to be something in the houses and we haven't even tried the market store yet." she picked up one kit, ripped it open and looked at its contents. Only good for if a wrist is broken, not a leg. She replaced it with a scowl and picked up another. Glancing up she noted the blurry top of the Hunter's head on the other side of the small store and narrowed her eyes. "What do you think of him?" she asked quietly, dropping her voice so the Hunter wouldn't hear her.

"I don't really know. He seems decent but so do a lot of people. But... if he's willing to travel fifteen miles through the forest to get medication for one of his friends then he might be worth getting to know."

"Then try and be a bit friendlier won't you?"

"Hey, you can't be too careful in today's times. He's wearing a camouflage vest for the love of crap. For all we know his 'friend' could be in the military and he could be leading them right to us." it sounded like he was trying to convince himself just as much as her and it wasn't working so he just sighed and shook his head. "I don't really know what to think."

She looked up at him, her glazed eyes seeming oddly clear as she grinned widely. "Are you saying that because its true or because you're jealous that he seems to already be taken?" he simply spluttered at that, not able to form a coherent response before she continued. "And anyway, he probably won't stick around once he loads up on enough medicine. If his 'buddy' is that sick he'll want to get out of here as fast as he can."

"I'm amazed he stayed the night." the male snorted, watching Alec move around the store with a plastic bag dangling from one hand as he placed boxes and bottles in it. "Did you hear the noise he let out when we were pinning him last night? He must have thought we were gonna kill him and was thinking of what would happen to whoever is sick." he peered down at the female as she held another package close to her face so she could read its contents.

"Yeah I heard it. It was absolutely heart breaking to hear." she muttered, moving over to the check out counter and sitting on it with the splint pack still in her hand. Silently, she unwrapped her knee, ripped open the package and splinted it, her eyes narrowed to clear up her vision some. "God I hate having shitty eyesight." she grumbled, making one last pass with the gauze before taking out the medical tape. "I'm glad that damned Hunter's dead now. But I don't appreciate the fact that, in trying to save me, you almost shot me at the same time." she glared up at him, ripping the medical tape at the same time.

"Well I didn't did I? And besides, if I hadn't shot when I did you would have been disemboweled." he replied with a shrug, noticing Alec come up out of the corner of his eye. "Find what you needed?"

The Hunter seemed caught off guard by the question, his blazing red eyes sparking for an instant with an unknown emotion before he nodded. "Yeah. I left plenty for the two of you though." he paused, thinking for a moment. "If you want, I can give you directions back to the cabin where my group is bunking so if something happens here you'll have a friendly place to go." he raised an eyebrow, the scars on his face pulling and twisting some. The two humans exchanged a look, seeming to have a silent conversation, a stubborn challenge in both of their eyes as if they were silently daring each other to answer first. Alec cast his eyes off to the side for a moment as he felt the air between the humans crackle. He was almost ready to just back out of the store and head back to the cabin but the male sighed and spoke before he could.

"Fine. That sounds like something to consider." the female smirked from her seat on the counter, scratching the her side and looked at Alec.

"Thanks. Consider your debt repaid." she stated, like she had actually expected Alec to do something along these lines and she wasn't surprised. Alec offered her a lopsided grin, turning when neither of them looked like they were going to say a farewell, waving over his shoulder. When neither of them stopped him, he exited the store. As soon as he rounded the corner, he crouched, placing the handles of the plastic bag between his sharp teeth for convenience sake, and pounced to the low roof of the building across from him.

He wouldn't stop until he reached the cabin, he didn't have the time to lose. If Ellis had gotten as bad as he was when Alec had left in two days, who knew how ill he was now. Alec didn't want to waste any time, didn't want to make stops, but the snow gradually got heavier until it was getting hard to see. There was minimal wind, but the amount of snow falling forced Alec to travel through the shorter trees of the forest or so that if he his a trunk he wouldn't have far to fall. He was also slowed by the absolute cold that enveloped him despite the desperate burning of his legs lungs and arms.

The moon was rising by the time it the snow got thick enough that he couldn't see at all and forced him to stop for the rest of the night. He crouched, shivering, on the branch of a large evergreen, sheltered to some degree from the snow. The cold pressed in around him, making him bury his face in his jacket's collar, breathing in the scent of dried blood from the torn up shirt under his vest and his own scent which was mostly snuffed out by the smell of Infection. He still had the smell of his old house, incense and the cologne that his father had insisted he wore everywhere that had always irritated his nose and made him sneeze for five minutes after he had put it on. He must have wore it so much that it became part of his scent permanently.

Lifting his head, he puffed out a breath, the cloud of fog hanging in the air for a scary amount of time. He vaguely wondered what the temperature was but didn't really care as long as he didn't get frost bite or hypothermia. The chances of that rose the longer he remained where he was but he couldn't travel anymore without the risk of breaking his neck through a head on collision with a tree. Fingering the plastic material of the bag that he had set between his tucked knees and chest, he looked around, listening but not really expecting anything. Any smart creature would be asleep in a deep warm hole somewhere instead of out in the horrid cold that he was stuck in. Shivering, he buried his nose in his jacket again, closing his eyes and praying he would wake up without any blue or purple body parts in the morning.

When he did wake up, the sun was making the snow sparkle in a million colors. It had stopped falling and had settled in a fine powder on every surface, including the top of Alec's head and his shoulders. Lifting his head, he dusted the snow out of his hair and looked around, all the while flexing every muscle in his body to make sure that he hadn't froze in any form during the night. Luck must have been on his side because he was still perfectly thawed. Sucking in a deep breath, making his lungs burn from the cold, he stood on the branch stiffly, stretching his legs and arms and twisting his back to make sure he was ready to go. Once he was sure he wouldn't lock up mid-leap, he placed the handles of the bag between his teeth again and leaped. _I have to be almost there. I traveled for a few hours before stopping. _He mused, his heart hammering with worry as the sun rose. _God I hope I didn't get lost. _His fears were pacified though when he spotted the cabin through the trees. Something was horribly wrong though. When he paused in the treeline, he saw that one of the upstairs windows was open and the reek of extreme sickness permeated the air around the cabin making Alec's heart turn to a block of ice and crawl into his throat.

_**I know I'll be shot for such a place to leave off but I felt it necessary. And the two humans will remain unnamed until either a) someone figures out who they really are, or b) they show up again. Which they will. Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and once again thanks so much for the two hundred reviews! **_


	30. Labyrinth

Separated

Chapter 30- Labyrinth; _Oomph_

_'The madness here has locked you up, and now your perfect world is fucked up. Its taken roots inside your mind, run child run run for your life.'_

"_And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death."- Revelation 6:8_

"Philo!" Alec cried as he burst through the front door of the cabin, seeing the Smoker standing before the fireplace looking tired and more gangly than normal. The reek of illness assaulted the Hunter's nose even more violently than before and he heard two different coughs from upstairs. "Josh is sick now too?" he chocked out, his heart hammering in his chest.

"Yeah but his isn't as bad... you should go check on Ellis first." his eye centered on the bag that hung limply from Alec's right hand. The Hunter looked terrified as to what he might see but he moved up the stairs anyway, almost having to hold his breath as the reek of stale vomit hit him square in the face. _This isn't good..._ he moaned to himself, praying that the medicine he got would be good enough to at least subdue whatever illness Ellis and Joshua had. Pushing the door to the bedroom open, his entire body going as cold as ice when he took in Ellis's frame. He was covered with a pile of quilts and a couple jackets, sweat poured off his face and his breath came in ragged gasps. His face was as white as the snow outside and the air around him was permeated with the reek of vomit and sickness. "I've done all I can for both of them. They need a doctor..." Philo whispered behind him.

Alec glanced over his shoulder at the Smoker, who was standing behind him, rubbing a hand through his shock of dark blonde hair, his face tortured. "We can't move them back to Ouray. Even if they were in the condition to travel, the military's moving north. The snow will slow them but they'll try and take the town back from Gregory and the rest." he sighed, opening the bag and peering inside. "We'll have to work with what we have for now. I have half of the drug store's med supply in here so it should last. I hope..." he moved forward, pulling out a couple boxes of various medications, passing a couple to Philo. "Take these to Joshua, we gotta catch what he's got before he gets as bad as Ellis."

"Why only half?" Philo inquired, picking up the boxes with his one hand and his tongue.

"There were a couple humans in the town. I left some for them." he didn't look at the Smoker but he could feel Philo's gaze on him before he turned and left the room. There was a cloth laid across Ellis's forehead but when Alec touched it, it was hot to the touch. Swallowing, he placed the bag on the floor and moved quickly out of the room, out of the cabin, and to the small stream that ran behind it. Dipping the cloth into the water, he sprinted back to the cabin before it froze in the cold and laid it across Ellis's forehead once he had wrung half of the water out. He flinched in his almost comatose state at the sudden cold, his face scrunching up into a tight frown. Alec pulled out a jar of vapor rub, unscrewing the top and removing the safety seal. Dipping his clawed fingers into it, he pulled back the covers with his other hand, applying the gel to Ellis's chest in a thick layer in hopes of clearing up his breathing some.

At his touch, the hillbilly cracked open his blue eyes, trying to croak out something in a weak thick voice but Alec flashed him a stern look that said clearly 'shut up.' Ellis just tried to blink his eyes open some more and stared at the ceiling, shivering as the cold air seeped through where the vapor rub had been applied. He watched through bleary eyes as the Hunter sorted through what he had piled into the bag, moving quickly and silently. Alec's eyes were lit with fear, panic, and a silent freak out session was taking place in his mind as he worked silently, his face as calm as he could manage it. He figured that Ellis wouldn't be able to stomach any flu-healing honey-tea mixes and doubted that he would be able to swallow any pills so he snatched a bottle of liquid flu medication, wrinkling his nose when he remembered taking that particular brand as a child. It had tasted horrible and had made his stomach burn but it had done its job. Slicing the crackling plastic off of the lid, he unscrewed it quickly, placing it on the table and looking at Ellis, not sure how to sit him up without making him throw up or something.

Taking off his jacket, Alec bundled it into a roll, leaning over Ellis and sliding it under his head to provide some lift. It would have to do, he didn't want to move him around too much. "Feel free to beat me up for this later." he muttered, pouring the correct dosage in the little plastic cup that was laid on top of the bottle. Using his free hand, he opened Ellis's mouth gently and poured the medicine into his mouth. His face screwed up at the taste but he tried to swallow it. Alec held his jaws closed as he tried to open his mouth to spit the solution out, looking at him sternly but stroking one hand through Ellis's hair gently. It was slicked down with sweat and his skin burned to touch but Alec didn't stop until he felt Ellis swallow the medicine. He then picked up a decongestant solution, ripping the box it was in open and pulling out the bottle, ignoring the weak whine of protest that came from beside him as he poured it into the cup. "Hey, this is all that can be done until you can swallow pills so don't complain. I went through hell to get this for you so at least act grateful." his words weren't harsh, contained fear lacing his voice as he spoke. "Open up eh?"

Slowly, Ellis let his jaw fall slack, his breath rasping in and out and a nasty mixture of puke and the flu medicine. Alec inwardly blanched, but showed no change in his expression as he poured the medicine into the ailing human's mouth, clamping his jaw shut again when he tried to spit it out when he couldn't swallow it. "One more after this, promise." he forced a smile, staring into Ellis's hazy eyes and trying to push back the panic that he was still feeling. He just hoped that all these meds would stay down until they could work their way through his system. Alec released his jaws again and pulled out the last one, and by far the most revolting out. When Ellis saw the bottle he managed to muster up some energy to try and move away from it but was quickly pinned by hard red eyes. He went limp, swallowing thickly as Alec poured the thick solution out of the bottle. He had had this particular medicine before and vomit tasted better in his opinion. With extreme reluctance and as much resistance as he could muster in his weakened state, Ellis's mouth was pried open and the medicine was poured in. Alec clamped his mouth shut before he could even think about spitting it out, his eyes sparking as he stared down at the hillbilly until he managed to force himself to swallow it.

He broke into a loud and jarring coughing fit right after his stomach burning from the combined medicines mixing with his stomach acids and slowly working their way through his body. He hoped he wouldn't throw them up because it would end up all over Alec if the Hunter didn't manage to get out of the way fast enough. The mere thought of being sick again made his gut turn and he pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to close his throat off some and prevent any bile from forcing its way up. He shivered from his fever and the cold combined, not sure if he wanted to cover himself up or throw all the blankets off so he settled for holding still and staring blankly at the ceiling as his coughing subsided for a brief moment. Ellis felt guilty when he saw the look of utter panic and frenzied concern on Alec's face as he grew still, the only sound in the room his rough phlegm filled breath. Of course he would get sick now of all times instead of before. Though he supposed that now would have been the best of all times _to _get sick since they had some form of down time.

Ellis's stomach heaved, but he swallowed the bile that spilled into his mouth with a disgusted grimace, determined to keep the medication in him as long as he could before throwing it up. That thought didn't last long however when his stomach convulsed even harder, forcing his shoulders off the bed as his jaws fell open and bile shot out of his mouth. He turned on his side, coughing and hacking, chocking on the burning fluid and dry heaving as his stomach tried to empty itself again but couldn't force anything up. Alec had taken a step back but jumped onto the bed, crouching behind the hillbilly as he choked, rubbing his back and shoulders in as a soothing and gentle manner as he could muster. Ellis vaguely heard the Hunter call out for Philo, hearing the heavy padding of the Smoker's bare feet on the wood floor and hardly noticing the flash of movement as he entered the room. He collapsed onto his side, panting and coughing, his mouth having a sour taste and his throat and nose burning. A cloth was run over his face, cleaning up the drool and vomit and he was lifted off the bed. The movement was lost on him as his eyes slipped closed, exhausted from fighting the illness and from not sleeping because of it.

Alec laid Ellis down on the couch beside the lit fireplace, grimacing at the bile that ran dripped over the ailing human's arm and chest from his lurch upward. The Hunter had stepped back just in time to avoid it but the floor and bed was covered with bile and discharged medicine that would have to be cleaned up fast before the smell sank into the mattress. Fetching a clean blanket, he laid it across the back of the couch, moving into the kitchen for a cleaning rag. He tried the sink, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline as some brownish water trickled out, slowly at first then the pipe rattled as an air bubble was released and the water splashed into the basin. Running the rag under the freezing water, Alec squeezed as much as he could out and turned the sink off and moved back to the den. Crouching beside Ellis, he gently ran the rag over the human's arm, neck and chest as well as his face again, his nose wrinkling at the reek of bile.

"He couldn't even keep the meds down?" Philo muttered behind the Hunter. Alec only answered with a sigh, his head sinking to between his shoulders and his eyes closing tightly. "This isn't good. Josh kept 'em down but he said that he's feeling nauseous. I just hope..."

"That they aren't Infected?" Alec finished for him, glancing over his shoulder, his red eye watery. His heart hammered painfully in his chest, his breath constricted as many various scenarios ran through his mind. From deadly illness to Infection, whatever they had wasn't good by any means.

"Yeah. Can you smell any Infection on them?" the Smoker tilted his head, waiting as Alec smelled around the reek of illness and then slowly shook his head with a sigh. "Good. Then chances are this is just a bad cold or the flu. But without proper care..." he trailed off for the second time, his voice becoming constricted and pained. "What about those two humans you had met in the town? Would they be able to do anything?"

Alec was silent for a while, thinking of the mysterious pair of surviving, uninfected humans he had made acquaintances with. Would they have known what to do? _Probably not_. They had barely been able to take care of her broken leg in a quick and orderly manner. Even if the chances of them having knowledge of whatever ailment Ellis and Joshua had were higher, the chances of them willingly trekking fifteen miles in the freezing cold and snow was extremely slim. "I doubt it. They were just kids, probably not even out of high school." he shook his head. "And besides, one of them had a broken leg and the other seemed reluctant to leave her side. They've obviously been traveling together for some time."

Philo was quite for a long minute before he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Then we're limited to what we have then... that's great." he hissed, his face torn between taking on an angry appearance or a dismayed one, contorting into one of the most bizarre expressions Alec had ever seen him pull. "Well, I'll watch Ellis for you. Josh wanted to have a quick word." he nodded up the stairs, his blonde hair falling over the scarred patch where his right eye used to be at the movement. The Hunter didn't move for a long time before slowly standing up and moving past Philo, feeling the Smoker's body trembling with pent up anger and fear as his brushed by. He couldn't imagine what was going through his head at the moment, and didn't want to so he just moved up the stairs quickly, taking them two at a time.

Pushing the door to the room Joshua was staying in open, he was relieved to see his brother looked slightly more healthy than Ellis. He was sitting up, pale and with sweat beading on his forehead, but he seemed somewhat alert, his blue eyes sliding over to Alec as he moved toward the bed. "Thanks for the meds. I just wish I didn't need them." he muttered in a thick, tired voice. Alec could see the dark thoughts swimming through his older brother's eyes, being used to reading him through his expressions, and cut him off before he could open his mouth again.

"You aren't going to die and neither is Ellis so don't even start. Even if you do, I will personally find a way to drag you back from wherever the hell you end up and beat the absolute shit out of you." he snapped, his voice laced with a rumbling growl as heart tightened at the thought of losing his last remaining family member.

Joshua blinked at him for a second, seeming to be in a trance before he coughed roughly and forced a grin. "For a second I forgot you were Infected and thought we were back home. Long before any of this happened." he stated, his voice quiet and filled with exhaustion but he forced himself to remain alert. "Seeing you act so subdued for so long has been unnerving. Its good to see you're getting your spunk back."

"My _spunk_ as you call it was never lost. Just contained because it needed to be." the Hunter snapped back, grinning to himself as he recognized the banter that used to go on between him and Joshua all the time before the Infection. Even with the emotionally and physically exhausting few days he had had, he felt nice to be immersed in the memories of the life he had once lived. Or, the happy ones at least. "God I hate seeing you both like this, not being able to do anything about it."

"And you just told me not to get on a depressed rant?" Joshua shook his head in false dismay and coughed several times, the sound rattling in his chest painfully. "Don't worry, we've been through worse." he tried to sound reassuring but his voice was thick with phlegm making it hard to understand and when he tried to smile it came out as a grimace. Alec cast his blazing red eyes to the floor, the scent of illness that coated every inch of air burning his nose and throat to the degree that he wanted to sleep on the roof when night fell instead of inside where it was slightly warmer. But he couldn't. Philo looked more exhausted that Joshua did, if at all possible, and he needed his rest. He didn't want the Smoker coming down with some sort of weird Infected-attacking cold or virus that no amount of medicine might not fix. Then he thought of himself, and what would happen if he got sick but quickly shook the thoughts away before they swamped his already muddled mind.

"Get some sleep. You look like you need it." Alec said in a little more than a whisper. He then turned, and moved quickly and with purpose out of the room and down the stairs. He passed Philo without a word and stepped out into the frigid air of the outdoors, flinching and screwing his eyes closed as wind whipped around him fiercely. Squinting, he cast his eyes to the sky, tracing the outlines of the gray clouds mentally, seeing the past-noon sun glowing weakly through the veil. It reminded him of himself and his friends. In many ways, they were like the sun, covered and snuffed out by others constantly but always coming back and shining as brightly as ever. He just hoped that that would last, that they wouldn't eventually break under the strain of surviving. The winter was going to be a harsh one and more illnesses like the one that plagued the cabin now may strike again. Which, as the weather got more and more unpredictable with winter closing in tighter, it would become nearly impossible to fetch medication if they ran out of the supply they had now. Sighing, Alec pulled himself onto a low branch of a tree in the yard, sucking in a deep breath to clear his senses of the reek of illness and hopefully clear his head. He needed to have an open mind if the possible impending doom that was drawing closer called the military was anything to go by. If they really were moving north, then that meant they might move in from the south too and if they found the cabin, Alec would have to make decisions that may cost him his life but save those that he held dear.

_**Heh, how many of your hearts clenched at the quote I put? Bleh, this one's been emotionally draining. Sorry if I grossed any of y'all with weaker stomachs out with bits of this chapter but it was necessary. And I know I've made this plea before, and I'll probably be griped at for making it again, but: go read Changing World goddamn it! My friend AlphatheWolf keeps nagging about how he doesn't get any readers and its giving me the impression that he doesn't think that he's any good so I'm determined to prove him wrong if that's the case. Its probably not but meh, I'll just call it a kind gesture. Anygrr, reviews are loved and are one of the many things that keeps this story trucking along.**_


	31. The Night

Separated

_**Nya, the identities of the two humans are revealed in this chapter since no one managed to guess correctly. I didn't really expect anyone to so, oh well.**_

Chapter 31- The Night; _Disturbed_

_'In a world beyond controlling, are you going to deny the savior in front of your eyes. Stare into the night, power beyond containing are you going to remain a slave for the rest of your life. Give into the night.'_

"_Life can either be accepted or changed. If it is not accepted, it must be changed. If it cannot be changed, it must be accepted."- Unknown_

"I can't believe I agreed to come with you." Alec snarled as he trudged behind Philo in the knee deep snow. The taller Infected didn't reply for a long time, his feet dragging on the frozen forest flow beneath him leaving two ruts for Alec to follow in. "I know that Joshua's recovered and all," _mostly_, he added privately, "but with the military getting closer-"

"Would you shut up for one second?" Philo interrupted evenly. He glanced over his shoulder at Alec his milky yellow eye gleaming with a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "They'll be fine." Alec sniffed contemptuously and didn't reply, glaring at the Smoker's back as he lead the way through the frozen forest. It had been a week since he had come back from Ridgeway with medicine and it had worked once they had found a way to keep it in Ellis's stomach. Joshua was mostly recovered now, his illness down to a stopped up nose and some faint coughing and Ellis was about half recovered. He was still weak, still had a slight fever but he was coherent again and more alert. "You said yourself that those two humans supposedly had enough food to last them the winter, and I think that they should be able to fork some more over."

Alec blinked, thinking. Was it right to take food, a vital substance, from the ones who had allowed him to take medicine back to his companions? The Hunter wasn't sure what was right or wrong anymore but his heart clenched some at the thought of stealing food from them. "Philo we shouldn't be doing this." he muttered.

"Well all the wildlife has run off or gone to hide for the winter. What else can we do? Eat snow and roots for the next however many months?" Philo paused in his trudging and turned to face Alec. "Listen frog-legs. I know yer noble soul," his voice dripped with a sarcasm that made Alec let out a low growl, "doesn't like stealing from others but if we don't take at least a little bit back with us, we'll all starve before the end of next week. With how damn cold it is, we can't afford to be skin 'n bones." he stared evenly at Alec who looked ready to snarl something back at him but the sound of gunfire cut him off. "What was that?"

"I think I know." Alec replied, crouching and leaping into a tree. "Stay close. I don't want you to get shot on accident." he called back down, leaping to the next tree while Philo trudged as quickly as he could through the snow, cursing Hunters and their ability to get over rough terrain. He stayed as close as he could to the Hunter before he was suddenly plowed into the ground. "Sh." Alec snapped when he tried to protest. He motioned with one clawed finger over a scrubby bush which overlooked a hill. As soon as the Smoker peered down the embankment there was an explosion coupled with a horrified yell.

"Watch where you're shooting that thing Spirit! You almost took off my damn head." yelled a male's voice from down the hill.

"Well you're the one who trusted the legally blind one with the grenade launcher. And here I thought you were the smarter of the two of us." came a calmer female voice sarcasm lacing her tone lightly. Alec peered down the embankment to see the two humans from Ridgeway in the center of a circle of military corpses with many Infected ones mixed in. The male had an automatic shotgun with a pump one on strapped on his back while the female had a discarded grenade launcher at her feet, an M-16 in her hands and a sniper rifle strapped to her back. "Besides, what was I supposed to do? Let that Smoker grab you and tentacle rape you?" she clicked the safety onto her M-16 as she spoke, scanning the silent battlefield with glazed eyes.

"It would have been better if you had used one of your rifles. At least then if I had died I wouldn't have been blown into a million pieces." he wiped some blood off his auto-shotgun and huffed out a short sigh, absently prodding a soldier's body with one foot. "So how do you know this is the right way again? We never actually got directions from that Hunter." Alec winced at that, having completely forgotten about telling them which direction to go while his mind had been absorbed with getting medicine back to Ellis.

"Well he leaped off in this general direction and said he had come from this way. If you hadn't been so focused on either wanting to shoot him or lusting over him in your own private world you would have noticed that as well." she shot him a pointed look but said nothing else as she began to unsteadily pick and limp her way across the bloody snow in the direction of the hidden Infected. Alec grabbed Philo's sleeve, pulling him to the side and pushing him under a rotted out log, crouching beside him as the male helped pull the other up the embankment where they had been. He paused briefly, noticing the indention where Alec and Philo had been watching them but couldn't say anything as the female limped on ahead, locking into the tracks Philo had left in the snow without a second thought.

"For someone who used to be so against being active you sure to have a lot of energy." he commented, keeping close to her back as she limped stiffly along the tracks.

"Sixteen years of pent up energy will do that." she snorted back, halting in her stride and holding still even as the male bumped into her back. She closed her eyes, listening hard to something before jerking her head to the side, grabbing her sniper rifle, pulling the scope to her fogged eyes and pulling the trigger. In the echo of the shot there was a yelp and a muted thump. "Being virtually blind tends to be a good thing it seems." she sighed, her voice heavy.

"We need to find you some new glasses. Even reading glasses will do. At least then you'll be able to fight better when you have to look more than listen." his voice was soft but hard at the same time. "I'll take the lead. Keep an ear out for anything coming at our backs huh?"

"Don't I always?" she asked, grinning, sliding the sniper rifle back onto her back and holding her M-16 with a strong grip while the male took the lead, his shotgun held firmly in his hands. Alec crept forward, knowing she wouldn't see him if she turned around if he had figured her bad eyesight correctly. When Philo tried to move forward as well, Alec planted the bottom of his shoe against his chest and halted him, pulling back into a crouch.

"We can't let them see or hear us for a while. I don't think they would shoot me if they saw me but I know they would shoot you." he whispered, moving to the Smoker's side so he could lower his voice some more so he wasn't heard by the two humans. "Let's go. Stay in the undergrowth and as low and quiet as you can manage. I have a feeling he's about as good a shot as she is." he planted his hands in the snow, pulling himself forward, crawling behind bushes and under fallen logs keeping close to the humans. He could hear Philo struggling to not only keep up without making a lot of noise but to contain coughs as the cold attacked his already sensitive lungs. He wasn't conditioned or made for silent stalking like Alec was so he was having a hard time.

After half an hour of near-silent stalking and a few almost-close calls they came to a ravine that had the now frozen stream from the valley the cabin was in in the bottom. It was about a two story fall from the edge to the ice below, enough to seriously cripple or kill someone and there was less cover for Philo and Alec to hide in. Alec eventually had to give Philo a crash course in tree jumping, pulling him into a spruce and grabbing him around the stomach as he tried to make a jump and almost fell. The noise generated by that had made both humans stop and turn, looking for their followers. The female closed her eyes, listening but both of the Infected were holding their breath and clinging to each other for dear life on the narrow branch staring tensely down to the snow below them. When she wasn't able to locate them by sound and opened her eyes, giving an all clear nod to the other, they had to restrain heavy sighs of relief. "You smell like cigarettes." Alec growled quietly, unhooking Philo's shaking arms from his shoulders and leaping to the next tree. "C'mon." he hissed as the wind blew, using it to carry his voice to the Smoker who was busy staring down at the ground with the semblance of a terrified expression plastered across his scared face. "I'll catch you don't worry. We have to keep up with them."

Philo gulped, hooked his single arm around the trunk of the tree, pulled back, crouched and launched himself forward. He overshot and almost brought Alec off his perch but the Hunter hooked one arm around his stomach again, digging his claws into the bark of his tree, and heaved back, pulling Philo into a ruffled sitting position beside him. "I ain't built for this. I'm made for waiting on tall buildings an' snatching an unsuspecting survivor to drag them up and maul to death." he hissed, ruffling his hand through his shaggy dark blonde hair, attempting to calm his frayed nerves.

"Well you have a lot more strength in those gangly limbs than you look like you do. You probably would have made a good Hunter but the universe said otherwise." Alec chuckled deep in his chest, peering down at the humans who were still moving at a steady pace below them. They had just entered the narrow trail beside the ravine, leaving a two tree wide area for the Infected to move through. "We'll need to climb higher to stay hidden." the Smoker shot him an 'are you nuts' look but Alec shrugged it off. "I'll help you. What reason have I ever given you not to trust me?"

"Uh, your internal and eternal battle with your Infected mind." he tapped his fingers against the Hunter's forehead to emphasize his point, getting his hand swatted away.

"That aside. Let's get climbing. We can't let them get too much of a start on us." he pulled himself up to the next highest branch, looking down at Philo. The Smoker had to hook his feet onto the bark to pull himself, his single arm already aching from the sudden extensive use. Alec could hear him cursing under his breath as he pulled himself up to the next branch, resting beside the Hunter. Alec didn't give him much of a chance to catch his breath, leaping to the next tree, rustling the needles lightly as he landed. Philo's was much less graceful and he almost plummeted to his death again, caught only by Alec's quick hand grasping his ankle as he fell. He whimpered under his breath as Alec hooked his legs around the branch, leaning down and grabbing the stunned Smoker's shirt and pulling him back onto the branch.

"When I die, you stay away from my funeral." he snapped when his heart had left his throat. Alec laughed quietly leaping again and motioning for Philo to stay back, which was done gratefully, as he peered down at the ground to see the humans listening again. Both of them were completely hidden by the evergreens' needles but the male aimed his auto-shotgun up at the branches, firing a couple rounds into each tree. Alec ducked back as the discharged bullet flew past his head, feeling none hit him. He looked back at Philo to see the Smoker biting his hand to keep from yelling, a bleeding wound in his opposite shoulder. He pulled himself back and leaped forward a couple heartbeats later, feeling Alec's arm smack against his chest as he landed unsteadily. "Holy fuck that kid has good aim. Shot in the dark or not." he hissed, glaring down at the humans. He waited until their attention was turned away from the trees and back to the trail. "Why are we trailing these guys back to the cabin when we could just approach them. I mean, you sorta know 'em right?" he asked, turning to Alec who was staring after them with a contemplative look glittering in his blazing red eyes.

"Call it moment of opportunity. My 'noble soul,'" he glared at Philo out of the corner of his eyes, "is feeling noble. I have a feeling that that military-Infected convoy they were in the middle of wasn't the last in a long line and if they're being followed, it'll be better for us to be on the sidelines to give them a hand then to be seen right away by the next group that catches up with them and possibly slaughtered along side them."

"Wow... you're a lot smarter than you look." Philo teased, grinning when Alec growled at him.

"Let's go giraffe-tongue. The temperature's dropping and we still have another seven or so miles back to the cabin." he leaped to the next evergreen, turning to grab Philo as he leaped as well. He could see the energy draining from the Smoker and knew that if they had to rest because Philo couldn't go on, they would lose the trail by morning. The Smoker was usually laid back, almost lazy, no matter how fierce he could be in a pinch. He didn't have the high energy reserves like a Hunter did. They repeated the leap-turn-grab-leap cycle for about ten minutes more before a stiff wind brought the scent of at least a dozen and a half if not more Infected. "I told you so." he whispered as Philo gave him an inquiring look. He remained on the thick branch of the spruce they had leaped to as the humans paused, turning in their path.

"Specials or commons?" Philo asked, peering through the trees behind them to see if he could spot them but came up with nothing. Alec sucked in a breath, able to identify Chargers, Smokers, Jockeys and other Hunters as well as a few commons. He shot Philo a concerned look through crimson eyes an swallowed. "What should we do?"

"Wait. If it looks like they can't handle it then we'll just stay here. If not, we'll have to jump in. How up to par are you on lassoing?" he glanced down at the humans, who were watching the path they had come down with intense expressions, weapons already at the ready. "I have a feeling that these Infected won't stop to consider them friendly. That and they showed no desire to be kind to Infected period when I had run into them in Ridgeway. If they were caught in the middle of an Infected-military battle and had done their best to slaughter both sides, they're basically just out to kill anyone who they consider an enemy."

"Is that part of the reason why we ain't down there too?" Philo asked quietly as the sound of the approaching Infected reached his ears. Alec nodded quietly, his claws cracking into the bark below his palms as he lowered himself further into a crouch, ready to jump in and assist. "Wait. If they're focused on killing Infected, jumping in suddenly may not be the best idea." the Smoker said, placing his hand on Alec's shoulder. "I think we should just wait here. They have two guns each they should be fine."

The second the words left his mouth the first trumpet of a Charger and the first screech of a Hunter echoed in the ravine. A Charger plowed through the snow effortlessly toward the humans, getting a combination of shotgun blasts and M-16 bullets in its face and chest. It was downed right before it would have plowed into the female. A Hunter in a dark orange hoodie leaped out of the undergrowth, getting a shotgun to the face as it flew, arms stretched out toward the male. The commons sprinting at them were quickly downed as well as two Smokers and another Charger with the mix of powerful bullets spraying into their bodies. The reek of Infected blood pierced the air as the snow turned red.

"Spirit watch out!" the male suddenly yelled as a Jockey flew toward the female. She turned, reacting a second too slow as the Jockey slammed into her, sending her sprawling onto her back, rolling over and over the edge of the ravine. The Infected fell to the ice below, cackling the whole way before splattering on the freezing surface.

"Woah!" she yelped, swinging by one hand from the rocky edge for a few scary seconds her shoulder slamming against the side and almost jarring her loose. She managed to claw a firm hold into the edge but wasn't able to pull herself back up with her injured leg. "I'm fine Wolfen." she called back up as the other moved to help her. "Just finish them off fast. I can't hold on forever." Alec impulsively jerked forward, stopped by Philo's hand tightening on his shoulder. He growled deep in his chest, watching the male, Wolfen, fend off the remaining half dozen Infected by himself. When he ran out of shells in his auto-shotgun, he slung his pump shotgun off his back, firing one round into the face of the last Hunter then scrambling over to the edge of the ravine. "Oh hi." Spirit gasped, grabbing his hand in a jerky motion, hooking her good leg into the rock as he pulled her up. "I say we stop for the night eh?" she panted, sprawled on her stomach in the snow.

"Are you alright?"

"If I wasn't, I'd be complaining about it. I'm just shaken up. You almost plummet to your death then tell me you're not drained." she huffed out, pushing herself into a sitting position. She looked down at her hands. Rock and dirt were imbedded in some fresh scratches in her palms and fingers. She sighed, taking a handful of the snow and rubbing it between her two hands. "What about you? I may not be able to see much but you had some rather close calls yourself."

"Just a couple scratches." he got a hard look from his companion, being assessed in two seconds for any sign of a lie. "Alright, a Hunter managed to get me on the shoulder. But its nothing too bad."

Her eyes remained hard as she shuffled to his back, squinting at the long gash that stretched from his back to below his shoulder blade. Without a word she picked up a handful of snow and slapped it onto the bleeding wound, getting a startled yelp from Wolfen. She hooked her hand on the collar of his jacket when he tried to turn around, yanking him back into a stiff sitting position. "It may be cold but it'll clean it and close it up." she muttered.

"Says the person from Texas."

"Says the person who paid attention to all the first-aid bull-shit I had to go through in band-camp." she snapped back. "I may not know much about snow but snow is frozen water and water cleans wounds. The cold will numb it anyway." she wiped off the remaining snow from his back and sighed. "If I know anything about Mr. Wells its that he was through." she muttered, a hint of restrained sadness echoing in her voice. "Anyway. Where should we set up camp for the night? I personally don't feel like sleeping beside the bodies of the ones who were trying to kill us so its up to you."

Wolfen gave her a critical look before standing up, feeling the stiffness of the new scab on his shoulder. Helping to her feet, he watched as Spirit swayed some at the sudden change in position before she stomped her good foot down into the snow to jar her foggy vision back to some form of non-fuzzyness. When she bent to pick up her M-16, she noticed a flash of something in the darkness of the trees. No matter how bad her eyes were, she could see what was supposed to be somewhere and what wasn't supposed to be somewhere. "Hey." she snapped out of her thoughts when Wolfen prodded her in the shoulder. "You coming or what?" she nodded mutely, limping after him with her gaze trained on the trees for a few steps before turning her attention to the trail.

_**Yeah yeah I know. 'Why did you put **__**yourself**__** in this story?' 'What are you thinkin Spirit?' A lot actually. And 'Wolfen' is AlphatheWolf, who happens to be a good friend of mine. And don't worry about me over-exaggerating anything, both of us agree that this is probably exactly how this would go down. And I suggest you go read **__**his**__** story as well as I've said three times now. I'll probably say it a few more times just to get my point across. Anygrr... review! It'll buy story-me new glasses~!**_


	32. Monster

Separated

Chapter 32- Monster; _Meg and Dia_

_'Monster, how should I feel? Creatures lie here looking through the window. I will hear their voices, I'm a glass child. I am Hanna's regret.'_

"_I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country or betraying my friend, I hope I should have the courage to betray my country."- E. M. Forster_

As soon as the two humans had gotten out of earshot, Alec snarled and shoved Philo against the trunk of the tree. "You moron she saw you!" he snapped in a hissing voice.

"What? How do you know it was me? Ow!" he cut off when Alec yanked on a strand of his dark blonde hair, glaring at him hard.

"Because yellow damn hair stands out against dark brown bark." the Hunter snapped back. "If she had shot at us because of you I'd remove your other arm myself." he turned and leaped to the next tree at that final statement, glancing over his shoulder as Philo got ready to jump after him. He almost reached out to grab the Smoker as he teetered but Philo managed to right himself before the Hunter had to assist him. They kept a decent distance between them from then on until they made camp a few miles up the road. Alec pushed Philo out of the tree, telling him to keep an eye out from behind a bush or something so they weren't almost caught again getting a nasty look from his taller companion. Alec then tuned into the conversation that the humans were having around the small fire they had started up.

"That felt too organized to be a random attack on a couple survivors that they just happened to run across on the road." Wolfen was saying, picking absently at a branch. Spirit was silent, staring almost blankly into the flickering fire appearing to not be listening to what he was saying. "Wasn't the Infected 'commander' of sorts giving out orders that any non-military survivors found traveling or in a town were to be questioned not attacked?" he glanced up at her, frowning when he saw that her glassy eyes weren't on him. "Are you even listening to me?"

She blinked and glanced up at him. "Yes. I'm thinking too." she replied quietly, almost too quietly for Alec to hear. He leaned forward some in his perch, feeling the branch he was on protest some at the shift in weight. "And you're right. That did feel too organized to be a random attack. They were coming at us with a purpose, they wanted to kill us not just subdue us." she sucked in a deep breath, coughing as some of the smoke from the fire irritated her lungs. "I'm willing to bet the clothes on my back that they were given orders to attack anyone they found on the road."

"What makes you say that?"

"Just a thought. One of many theories. I'm sure you've come up with many of your own." she shrugged, pulling absently on her pant leg and pulling her black leather jacket tighter around her. "And I coulda swore I saw something up in the trees after the attack. But you can't really trust my eyes anymore." she let a wry smile ghost across her face then.

"Let's say we could trust your eyes still. What was it?" Alec swallowed thickly, leaning forward a bit more, gripping the bark beside him with one clawed hand so he didn't topple out of the tree. Spirit didn't replay for a while, before settling for a sigh and a shrug.

"I'm not sure. But we're being followed I can say that much."

"Yeah I've felt it too. There also seems to be a lot of activity going on in the area which tells me either the person following us wants to be found or they're not very good at being discreet." the Hunter glanced down at Philo's crouched form below him, narrowing his eyes some into a light glare. If he had been alone, he wouldn't have this problem but he had agreed to come with the Smoker to get supplies from Ridgeway. That plan had changed quickly once they had seen the two humans below him. He placed his clawed hand over his empty stomach as he remembered he hadn't eaten much of anything in the past couple days. It complained loudly as Wolfen reached into his bag and pulled out a large can of what looked like chicken and dumplings. Spirit pulled out a small pot from her bag and passed it to him, folding her arms above her head and stretching her back. Alec felt tempted to drop down from the tree and beg for some of the food but restrained himself not only to save his own dignity but to keep from possibly getting shot.

His heart crawled into his throat in an icy block, however, when he heard Philo stand up below him. He was about to drop on his head and pin him to the ground to choke him with his own tongue but the Smoker had already moved out of the brush. Wolfen noticed him first as he approached Spirit's back but the girl was the first to react, pulling out a pocket knife from in one of her pant's pockets, flicking the blade out, turning and throwing it. It imbedded itself in the trunk of a tree just to the right of Philo's head. The Smoker gulped but continued in his stride forward. _Idiot! He's gonna get himself killed! _Alec thought, panicking slightly. He wasn't so much scared of losing the Smoker, but of what Ellis and Joshua would do to him if he came back without him.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Wolfen demanded, standing up with his pump shotgun in his hands, trained on the Smoker's body. Spirit craned her neck to get a feed on his location, saying nothing. Philo stopped just on the edge of the ring of light cast by the fire and held up his single hand as a sign of peace.

"I'm Philo. And I'd like to ask if my pal and me could share some of that food of yours." he looked over his shoulder for Alec but the Hunter was hidden in the shadows cast around him by his dark clothes and hair. "We ain't a threat don't worry." he tried to smile reassuringly but Wolfen just clicked the safety off his shotgun and aimed it a bit more.

"I don't believe you." he practically growled.

"Now hold on a second." Spirit said calmly, not looking at either of them but instead staring into the fire again. "Philo you said your name is?" she glanced over her shoulder at him to get confirmation. Philo nodded after a slight pause, not sure where she was going with the question. "You can stay." she said simply.

"What? I think that Jockey knocked more than your shoulder loose." Wolfen said skeptically, staring at her like she had grown a third eye.

"Well considering that he has the exact shade of hair that I had seen in the trees earlier and that he's tried to make peace with us I'd say give him a chance." she looked at her companion with a hard gleam in her eyes. "I didn't have the same experiences as you when I was on my own. I'm not in shoot first mode." it came out almost as a snarl. Wolfen lowered his weapon a fraction before letting out a furious noise and sitting down. He laid down on the ground with his back to her and the Smoker while the girl just rolled her eyes and motioned for Philo to sit down. "You're from Texas ain't ya?" she asked, grinning. Philo nodded mutely, a bit stunned at the difference between the two humans. If he hadn't already seen the bond between the two he would think they hated each other. "What area?"

"Uh, the coast near the border with Louisiana." he replied a bit unsure, glancing back toward the treeline where he knew Alec was still lurking.

"Really? Well what are the chances. So am I." she let out a rough chuckle and looked toward the trees as well. "Your friend can come out of hiding now. I'm not gonna shoot him and I don't think Wolfen's in any mood to do much of anything right now." the angry huff she received at that were confirmation enough of that statement. She stared pointedly into the darkness of the trees until she heard a soft thud and Alec crawled slowly into the light of the fire. "Ah so _he's _your companion huh? I should've guessed it." she smirked and flicked her gaze back to Wolfen's turned back. "Hey your crush is here." she teased. He simply glared over his shoulder. "Fine, more food for us. Don't be complaining tomorrow when you're about to pass out from hunger 'cause I'll punch you in the gut."

"And I'll shoot your foot again. And this time it won't be an accident." he snapped. Spirit raised a skeptical eyebrow, obviously not believing him and glanced at the pot that was resting on some hot coals and embers at the edge of the fire. Some bubbles were forming on the edges but it had been almost frozen so she would give it a few more minutes. "And I never said I had a crush on anyone."

"No but you lust after Hunters enough so I figured I'd just take a shot in the dark and say this one was special." she got a scoff in reply and chuckled again. She turned her attention back to the pair of Infected beside her and said quietly, "Don't mind him. He's as harmless as a kitten once you get to know him."

"Which we're apparently going to be doing seeing as you're heading toward the place we're staying." Alec said, sitting beside Philo, casting a sidelong glance at Wolfen. "Why are you suddenly moving locations though? I thought you said you were going to wait out the winter in Ridgeway."

"The military and Infected both closed in on it. It turned into a war zone in one night. We packed up all we could carry and got the hell out of dodge." she sighed, her foggy eyes growing glassy again as she thought about it all. "Its a good thing you showed up when you did otherwise we'd have nowhere to go."

Alec and Philo exchanged a glance at that. The war was getting too close for their liking. "As soon as we get you back to the cabin we might have a day to rest if we're lucky then we'll have to move again." Alec sighed. "I'd much rather stay out of all this bullshit with the war." he thought for a second before realizing that neither of them knew his name. "Oh, I'm Alec by the way." he noticed her eyebrows go up a fraction but otherwise she showed no outward reaction other than an accepting nod.

"So how's that friend of yours?" she inquired, tilting her head slightly to the side while her eyes flicked to Wolfen's turned back for an instant. The three idly chattered for several more minutes before Spirit poked the pot of food with a twig to see if it was unfrozen. She then scooped a handful of snow into her hand and threw it at the back of Wolfen's head. He jumped and sat up, clumps of the icy material splatting to the ground below him as he glared across the small fire at Spirit. "You gonna eat or not?" she asked, holding up the pot idly and raising an eyebrow at him, not affected by the nasty look.

"Whatever." he grumbled, facing his companion and crossing his legs. He swept his eyes over Philo and Alec who were just out of arm's reach of Spirit and tilted his head. "There gonna be enough for them?" he inquired when he heard one of the Infecteds' stomachs complain. The Hunter and Smoker both glanced to the side with equally embarrassed expressions.

"I'm no Jesus but yes." she replied with a smirk, leaning back to pull some plastic bowls out of her bag as well as a beat up ladle. She distributed nearly-even portions to the other three as well as herself and sighed. "So about how many miles would you boys say we have to go to get to this cabin of yours?" she turned her blurry gaze to the Infected who were forcing themselves not to inhale the very welcome food. Though they may not be exactly attuned to human foods anymore, they were slowly getting used to it again and any food was welcome.

Alec lowered the bowl from where he was about to spear a piece of chicken with one claw and thought. "About four miles I believe?" he looked to Philo for confirmation and the Smoker nodded, too busy eating to reply. "We'll be there by noon tomorrow if we don't run into any trouble." a thought occurred to him then. He wasn't sure if the two humans were immune or not. If they weren't it was a miracle that they hadn't been Infected yet, and if they were then maybe there was hope after all. Sucking in a lungful of the frigid air, he tried to keep his face from screwing up in confusion when he couldn't get a good feed on whether they were immune or not. Rubbing his nose absently, he tried again, this time showing a slight change in expression when he still couldn't tell. Either there was something wrong with his nose or there was something strange in the humans' blood that kept him from being able to read them.

They were silent while they finished up the meager food rations. When they had, Spirit took the bowls and ladle and threw them across the fire to Wolfen, who caught them without hardly looking at them. He started cleaning them out with snow while Spirit dug through her bag for a second. She sat back after a couple moments, her face screwing up with frustration and slight confusion. She moved the bag closer to the light of the fire and dug through it again. "Goddamn it. I knew we forgot something." she grumbled, zipping it back up and laying it behind her, collapsing onto it and puffing out a sigh.

"What did we forget?"

"First aid of all things."

"Why were you looking for first aid? Its not like we need it."

Spirit sat up and stared at him with hard eyes. "I _was_ gonna treat that gash on your shoulder instead of slapping more snow onto it but now I can't 'cause we forgot our med-kits at the drug store." she laid her head back down with a huff.

"Hey we have some meds like that at the cabin, don't we frog-legs?" Philo inquired, staring at Alec. The Hunter growled at him for using that nickname in front of people they barely knew but nodded, rubbing one clawed hand through his hair.

"Even if we don't have gauze or band-aids we have disinfectants and things like that." he sighed, his red eyes thoughtful. They had gone out looking for food and supplies and instead of that they were coming back with two more mouths to feed and look after. He was certainly confident in their abilities to look after themselves after seeing such displays of power and ferocity but if something happened that could change. Spirit was already mostly crippled because of the break or fracture in her leg and her shoulder was also supposedly hurt from when she was knocked off the ravine's side. He wasn't sure how injured Wolfen was but if the gash on his shoulder wasn't treated it could get infected and he could get extremely ill from it or die. It was obvious they were a good team but if one of them got killed or taken away, what would happen to the other?

He blinked away those thoughts. That probably wouldn't happen considering how tight knit they seemed despite their constant squabbles. It reminded him vaguely of how he used to bicker with Joshua and his other siblings before the Infection. Though Joshua was the only one out of his three brothers and single sister who had actually seemed to like him. The others only tolerated him. Letting out a low sigh, he stretched out on his back as Wolfen laid his gun across his lap, silent saying that he would take first watch. The felt Philo lay down near him, the warmth from the Smoker standing out against the cold. He was too far away from Spirit to tell where she was but he knew she was there from her near silent breaths and an occasional sniff. Was she sick or was that something she always did?

His mind whirled for thirty more long minutes before he forced it to calm down and drifted to sleep. His dreams were plagued with screams, the reek of blood, the sound of tearing flesh and cries for mercy. Triumphant yells from Infected and dieing screams of humans. Faces human mannequins were torn apart before his eyes, blood splashing onto an unseen floor as he floated in a black abyss. There were no gunshots, no sign of any fighting back from the humans, just yells for mercy and salvation with an insane laughter echoing behind all the other noise. A blurred form appeared many yards away from him, slowly flashing forward, fizzing in and out of focus like bad reception on a television station before he was face to face with Gregory, smiling like a mad man with human smelling blood dripping from his chin and coating his hands and clothes. The Smoker's tongue wrapped around his neck and squeezed.

Alec sat up with a gasp, a cold sweat beading his forehead which he quickly wiped away. He was panting hard and couldn't see straight for several moments before he shook his head and forced himself to focus. It was just before dawn and he was the only one awake. A light dusting of snow covered his chest and stomach as well as Philo's and the two humans'. No screaming, no blood, no Gregory with an insane spark in his eyes. He hadn't had a dream that screwed up in a long time and the last time he had it had meant something. He just hoped that whatever this one meant, it didn't come true for a long time.

_**Meh... I haven't updated in a long time I know but I've had computer only on weekends thanks to my grades. But I have some good news. I'm now part of a podcast called Left 2 Hunters on . Search it up if you want to hear the voice behind the author and how I think as well as how my buddy AlphatheWolf's. Leave a review and it will be personally thanked and you'll be given a gold star and a cookie!**_


	33. War

Separated

_**Ah and so ends this story. Its been one hell of a trip, almost a year worth of work, thirty-three chapters and tons of amazing reviews. And I never woulda thought that a story would make me the amazing friends that I have to this day. Its blown my mind how much of a response this story's gotten and I can only hope that the character histories I'm gonna release and the sequel can match it. So I hope y'all have enjoyed 'Separated' and that this chapter is up to your standards. **_

Chapter 33- War; _Sick Puppies_

_'Faking falls, stop and stall, take it back 'cause I'm taking mine, I'm taking mine. Time is up, out of luck, should have stood up when you had the time but you're out of time.'_

"_Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."- John Fitzgerald Kennedy _

It took the two humans and two Infected about four hours from dawn to make it to the cabin. All the while, it had been snowing lightly, leaving a fresh powdering on all surfaces and making the going tough. The air was quiet when they entered the yard, but an out of place scent made Alec stop short, causing Wolfen to run into him, Spirit into Wolfen and Philo almost into Spirit. "What's wrong?" Wolfen asked, taking a step back quickly and sending Spirit back into Philo and almost into the snow if the Smoker hadn't caught her arm.

"There's some strange smell..." the Hunter muttered, scanning the area. He noticed fresh prints in the snow near one of the windows which made his stomach do a flip. "Someone's been here." he growled, his body curling into a slight crouch as he moved forward, testing the air every few steps. The humans clicked the safety off their weapons and Philo kept all his senses on high alert for anything coming from behind. Alec turned the corner to the front door and came to a short stop. "Gregory? What are you doing here?" he asked, his mind traveling back to his disturbing dream.

The Smoker turned slowly toward him like he had all the time in the world, looking the Hunter up and down, taking in his defensive position. "Oh just popping in to say hello while we move north." he replied simply waving his hand absently and smirking. "I was just about to knock." he motioned at the door, his smirk deepening. "And I sort of have a proposition for you." his smirk faded and his expression turned serious and tired. Alec nodded, prompting him to continue. "This revolution... is no longer just that. It's a war. And its no long just between Infected and the military. I have a plan, a much more grand plan than I did before." his eyes shone with a scary light as he focused his full attention on Alec. "And I want you to join my army. You are much stronger than any Hunter, much more intelligent as well. You would be a valuable asset to our cause."

"Cause? And what cause would that be?" Alec growled suspiciously. He didn't like the look on Gregory's face, nor did he trust the scary gleam in his milky eyes.

"Why to exterminate the human race of course." the Smoker said it gleefully, like he was talking about picking out a puppy or picking flowers. Not wiping out all humans, the very things that all Infected had been at one time. "Oh I know what you're thinking." he clapped his hands together, rubbing them slightly and moving toward Alec slowly. "I'm crazy. Its impossible to take out all humans. But that's the very thing Alec. With how many Infected there are versus the meager number of humans left it will be easy. It will be like a game."

"You're out of your mind." the Hunter snarled, crouching even more. "And I'd much rather stay out of this disaster in the making."

Gregory frowned, his entire expression darkening and his shook his head in a semblance of dismay. "Oh Alec, you don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. Gregory, we were humans too at one point! You can't take out the very thing we were."

The Smoker's frown turned into almost a snarl and he clenched his hands a this side. "I can't? Let me tell you something. I was a scientist at that lab your friends found me in. And one of the first test subjects besides your own family of course." Alec's heart clenched at that, his mind flashing back to the night he had been Infected. "You see, you were born for one purpose and one purpose only. To be a test subject in your father's experiments. I was one of his most trusted scientists and consultants and he told me everything he planned to do. When he had completed his research, he was going to take you to the lab in Colorado, he was going to test on you, see the effects of the 'green flu' on the human body. But something went wrong at the lab he had in Florida. I was there visiting to get some updates on the research." he was circling Alec now and the Hunter was breathing hard as all the information he was being told hit him hard. "There was an accident and some of the samples, incomplete samples, were released into the water and air vents. All the scientists there were shipped to Colorado where it was more secure. We were locked in cells and were slowly weeded through as other researchers tried to come up with a way to reverse the incomplete virus. But it got out into the public and spread." he chuckled darkly, his expression gleeful and furious at the same time. "Then your father came up with the brilliant plan to mutate the virus further, turn it into a weapon. I know the Infection inside and out Alec. I know how every Infected ticks. Don't think you can fool me with your passiveness and reluctance to fight. I know the mind of the Hunter well."

"You know nothing about me." Alec rasped back, his breath still coming in short gasps. Gregory made a motion with one hand. Alec heard startled yelps behind him and watched, horrified as an unfamiliar Smoker and Caden dragged Wolfen and Spirit before them. "Let them go." _Where's Philo?_

"I don't think so. I'm going to make an example of them, then move on to your brother and lover." Gregory cackles and moved toward Wolfen first, examining him closely. Alec watched their faces, staring briefly into Caden's eyes, his own accusing and betrayed. He locked his red gaze into Spirit's own icy gray-blue one and his heart skipped when she smirked at him. She opened her mouth wide and clamped her jaws down on one of Caden's arms, making him howl and jerk back, releasing her. She threw herself at the Smoker holding Wolfen, allowing him to grab his pistol and drive a bullet through its skull. Caden was pinning Spirit to the ground the next instant, Gregory holding Wolfen firmly with a tongue coming out the back of his neck, scowling darkly at them. "A lot of fight in you two isn't there. No matter, you'll still be taken care of one way or another."

Alec trembled slightly as he watched Gregory slowly tighten his hold around Wolfen's middle. There was nothing he could do. If he leaped at Gregory, Caden would tear Spirit apart. If he leaped at Caden, Gregory would crush Wolfen's body in his grip. Gritting his teeth, he sucked in a deep breath, about to say something that may have very well been the end of him and what humanity he clung to when a sharp gunshot pierced the air and Gregory's tongue was severed. The Smoker yelled with pain as yellow-green blood dripped down his back. He glared up at the second story window of the cabin where Joshua was holding a hunting rifle to his eye, his finger still rested on the trigger. Alec took the opportunity of the Smoker being distracted to leap on Caden. The other Hunter snarled as he was flung off of Spirit's back and into the snow, rolling with Alec in a flurry of flashing claws and fangs. He knew he was outmatched by the stronger and faster Hunter and tried to run off into the forest but Alec didn't let him. He pinned Caden down into the snow, driving his face into a root of a tree near by, tearing open his cheek and drawing blood.

When Alec looked up, he saw that Gregory had run off, a trail of dripped Smoker blood leading for several yards into the snowy forest before disappearing. "Coward." he spat, digging his claws into the back of Caden's neck as he tried to squirm free. The front door of the cabin opened as Alec jerked Caden to his feet, keeping a firm grip on his neck and wrists as he shoved him over to where Wolfen was pulling Spirit to her feet. The female human immediately stalked over to Caden and slugged him in the face, one hand resting on a pistol between her back and jeans as she scowled at him. No one said anything until Ellis, Joshua and Philo had come out of the cabin and come to a stop before them. "So what are we gonna do about this?" he dug his claws further into Caden's wrists, making him whimper some.

"Its not like we can let him go back to Gregory." Ellis mused, his voice still raspy from his cold. His blue eyes locked onto Alecs, shining with unsure and scared sparks of emotion.

"But what information can he give us?" Joshua inquired, moving closer to Caden and narrowing his eyes. The Hunter's nose was bleeding now from where Spirit had hit him and he was looking down at the ground. His hood was pulled off his head now, revealing light chestnut colored hair that shadowed his eyes. A long scar ran from his ear to his chin and his face was narrow, young. "Hey." Joshua snapped firmly, getting Caden to glance up at him. "Can you speak the human tongue again or not?" the Hunter remained quiet, clenching his jaw shut and glancing off to the side. A low growl pulled from deep in Alec's chest at his defiance and he moved one of his hands from the back of his neck to gripping his jugular, ready to rip it out.

"C'mon kid. Don't make this hard on yourself. You're obviously out numbered, out gunned, and out matched." Philo hissed, looking like he wanted to cross his arms if he had both of his arms. He settled for pulling on his jacket some. "Why not tell us what you know?"

_"Because I know who I'm loyal to. You two are betraying your kind by siding with these... humans." _Caden spat, glaring up at the Smoker.

"You're demented." Alec growled. He looked from face to face, looking for any protest to tearing out Caden's throat and nodded sharply. He tightened his claws into the young Hunter's neck and pulled, blood spraying onto the snow as Alec ripped out his wind pipe. Caden's body spazmed for a second before going limp and Alec let the body fall into the snow.

"Where do we go now? We can't stay here." Ellis asked, moving to stand beside Alec and placing a hand on the Hunter's shoulder as he sunk into his own thoughts. "Gregory will be back soon with more Infected and they won't let us get out unscathed." no one answered for a long time before Spirit let out a thoughtful noise and spoke up, her voice quiet and thoughtful.

"You guys have a map in there by any chance? I have an idea." she inquired, rubbing her chin lightly and brushing some snow off of her leather jacket. Joshua nodded, motioning for her to follow him and lead her inside. Wolfen narrowed his eyes, keeping close to his companion, still not sure whether or not he should trust such a large group of unfamiliar people.

Alec sighed as the door closed behind them and reached up, folding his hand over Ellis's, feeling the slight fever that he still had. "Seems like peace is unattainable for us doesn't it?" he laughed bitterly and shook his head. He wiped his bloody claws off on his jacket and sighed. Ellis tugged lightly on his sleeve, nodding toward the cabin silently as Philo turned toward it as well. They said nothing as they moved into the slightly heated cabin where Spirit, Wolfen, and Joshua were bent over a large map of the country. Spirit was bent the closest, her eyes squinted so she could read it better, her finger tracing a highway heading west.

"I know where we can go." she murmered, not looking up as the other three stopped around the table. "Problem is, we gotta cross a desert to get there."

"And where is this place?" Ellis asked, looking where her fingers were sliding. "California?"

"Yeah. My grandmother's sister had a house in L. A. I haven't been there since I was four but I spent two months there. I think I could find it again once we find the Manhattan Beach area." she looked up, locking her foggy gray-blue eyes on each person around her. "I think its our only chance. Unless you boys have a better idea, that's our best bet." she tapped the city marker for Los Angelas lightly.

"That's all fine'n dandy, but what about crossing over the mountains then getting through Nevada. As much as I'd love to get out of the frozen hell we've fallen into, I'd also much rather not die of thirst." Philo snorted, tilting his head at the state between Colorado and California.

"Hey, we've been through worse. Think of this as another challenge." Ellis countered with a slight grin.

"Yeah right, but its obvious that _you're_ still sick," Wolfen cut in, pointing at Ellis, "And she has a broken leg and cracked ribs." he motioned at Spirit who tried to look insulted but couldn't manage it. "While we may not be better off staying here or trying to move north, I don't think either of you could make a trek through the frozen mountains and the desert."

"Oh and what about you Mr. I just got the crap squeezed outta me by a Smoker?" Spirit snorted, crossing her arms and wincing some as her shoulder ached. "And what about that gash on your shoulder? It hasn't been treated yet and I can smell the infection from here." she waved a hand in front of her nose for emphasis and forcing a smirk. "You do have a point though. I don't think I would be able to make the trip."

"Oh please. That's the talk of a coward." Joshua jumped in suddenly, earning a nasty glare from Spirit at the accusation. "You've made it this far haven't you? How long has your leg been broken?"

"About a week or two."

"So it should be mostly healed by now huh? Or at least down to a fracture. I think you'd be able to make it." he blinked at the looks he was getting and scowled. "What? I may normally hang in the background but I have opinions of my own thanks." he grumbled, kicking the floor absently. He turned his blue eyes to his brother, frowning slightly. "Speaking of, you're being awful quiet."

Alec blinked, pulling himself out of his thoughts and shifted his weight some. "Ellis is right. We've been through worse." he growled, his voice hard. "I think we should make the trip." he locked eyes with his brother, then with Ellis who smiled softly. Alec's heart clenched some as he thought of what he had almost lost not ten minutes ago. If Philo hadn't slipped away and gotten Joshua's and Ellis's attention then Alec would have agreed to join Gregory if only to let Spirit and Wolfen as well as Joshua and Ellis live another day. Mentally slapping himself, he shifted closer to Ellis and looked from face to face. "We should leave as soon as possible."

_**Holy crap this is a short chapter and holy crap that's a horrible place to leave off, especially for the end of a story. **__**But**__** I'm going to start work on the sequel as well as Alec's, Philo's, and Joshua's histories and get them posted as soon as I can. Thank you to every one who's ever even glanced at this story from the deepest depths of my heart. You have no idea how appreciated it is and I hope to continue work like this in the future.**_


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